Obama Administration Sets New Course for Post-Cold War Nuclear Weapons Policy

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today called the Obama administration's new nuclear weapons policy "the most far-reaching since the end of the Cold War" and urged President Obama to "go even further to strengthen national and international security."

Below is a statement by Lisbeth Gronlund, co-director of the Global Security Program at UCS.

"We congratulate President Obama and his security team for making several significant changes in U.S. nuclear weapons policy, as laid out in the Nuclear Posture Review released today. These changes are the most far-reaching since the end of the Cold War nearly 20 years ago, and reflect the reality that nuclear weapons have become a liability in today's world. But given today's realities, we hope that this is just the beginning and the president will go even further to strengthen national and international security before the end of his term.

"A year ago in Prague, President Obama vowed to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security strategy; he has done so. We applaud his decision to strengthen U.S. 'negative security assurances' by pledging that the United States will not use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear weapon state that is a signatory in good standing of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. This is the first time since the United States has possessed nuclear weapons that its pledge applies even if such nations use chemical or biological weapons. The United States has many other options for addressing such threats.

"However, the new policy does not go far enough to reduce the role of nuclear weapons. It states that the 'fundamental' role of U.S. nuclear weapons is to deter a nuclear attack on the United States or its allies, and that the goal is to make deterrence the 'sole' purpose. Giving nuclear weapons roles beyond deterring nuclear attack is both unnecessary and counterproductive, and we urge the administration to adopt a 'sole purpose' policy now rather than later. .

"Moreover, to reduce the role of nuclear weapons, the United States should, in consultation with its NATO allies, remove its nuclear weapons from Europe. The new policy calls for maintaining the capability to deploy U.S. warheads in Europe, but U.S. military officials have long said there is no military rationale for those warheads.

"During his presidential campaign, then-Senator Obama called attention to the dangers posed by maintaining U.S. nuclear weapons on high alert status, which allows them to be launched in a matter of minutes. Since such a momentous decision requires careful and thorough consideration of all the options, we commend the administration for making a commitment to maximize the time available to the president to make a launch decision. However, we believe the administration needs to move more rapidly to minimize the risks of unauthorized or accidental launches.

"The new policy specifically rules out producing new nuclear warheads, as it should. It declares a 'strong preference' for refurbishing or reusing components from other warheads to extend the operational lifetime of U.S. warheads, but allows replacing existing components with entirely new ones if authorized by the president. On technical and nonproliferation grounds, the policy should have ruled out replacement options, which can result in significantly changed warheads. The decision not to do so reflects political considerations.

"Finally, we are disappointed that the policy does not specify numerical goals for the next bilateral nuclear reduction treaty with Russia, but we applaud the recommendation to address all nuclear weapons--strategic and tactical, deployed and non-deployed--in the treaty. We also strongly support the plan to initiate a comprehensive research and development program on verification technologies and transparency measures to support future arms reductions."