Trump National Security Strategy Could
'Create More Pathways to Nuclear War'
Viewed by critics as
further evidence that President Donald Trump is "obsessed with nuclear weapons and
creating the conditions for nuclear war," the White House's newly unveiled
National Security Strategy (NSS) lionizes America's nukes as the
"foundation" of its security policy and suggests they could be
deployed even in the case of non-nuclear threats.
"Nuclear weapons
have served a vital purpose in America's National Security Strategy for the
past 70 years," states Trump's NSS document (pdf), made public on December 18.
"While nuclear deterrence strategies cannot prevent all conflict, they are
essential to prevent nuclear attack, non-nuclear strategic attacks, and
large-scale conventional aggression."
The policy statement
goes on to lament the decline of "investments in our nuclear
enterprise" and the "reduced...role of nuclear weapons"
following the end of the Cold War and argued that "significant investment
is needed to maintain a U.S. nuclear arsenal and infrastructure that is able to
meet national security threats over the coming decades."
Commenting on the Trump NSS in an interview with the Guardian the director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists, Hans Kristensen, noted that Trump's "broadening of the nuclear weapons mission against non-nuclear attacks" represents a departure from the stated policies of previous administrations and concluded that it raises a monumental question: "are we creating more pathways to potential nuclear war?"
Trump's NSS was
released as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea continue to soar.
As Common Dreams reported earlier this month, the U.S. flew a B-1B supersonic bomber over the Korean Peninsula as part of war exercises that North Korea denounced as a simulation of "all-out war."
As Common Dreams reported earlier this month, the U.S. flew a B-1B supersonic bomber over the Korean Peninsula as part of war exercises that North Korea denounced as a simulation of "all-out war."
Given Trump's expressed affinity for America's nuclear
arsenal, it is not entirely surprising that his administration's security
strategy would place it at the center of attention.
NBC reported in October that Trump surprised
even military leaders during a meeting over the summer by calling for
"what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear
arsenal." Trump later denied requesting such a build-up.
In the face of Trump's
erratic behavior and his propensity for floating threats of "fire and
fury" against official adversaries, members of Congress last month held
the first hearing in decades on the
president's authority to launch nuclear weapons.
"There may be
plans in place, right now, at the White House, to launch a preemptive war with
North Korea using nuclear weapons—without consulting Congress," warned
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). "No one human being should ever have the
power."