Obama presses review of nuclear strategy
In a thorough review expected to be completed early this year, the size, structure, and even the very mission of America’s nuclear arsenal are being reconsidered as part of President Obama’s pledge to reduce the role of the world’s most deadly weapons.
“The U.S.-Soviet standoff that gave rise to tens of thousands of nuclear weapons is over, but the policies developed to justify their possession and potential use remain largely the same,’’ said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a Ploughshares Fund grantee. “Unless the United States reduces its reliance and emphasis on nuclear weapons, other states will have a cynical excuse to pursue or to improve the capabilities and size of their nuclear forces.’’
Henry Sokolski, director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, has argued that reducing the US arsenal dramatically could lead China or other powers that now have hundreds of nuclear weapons to try to reach parity by building up their arsenals - what he calls the destabilizing prospect of a “packed nuclear crowd.’’
But others, like Kimball, note that Russia and the United States have 95 percent of the world’s nuclear arms and that there would be plenty of warning if a country like China, which is estimated to have 350 weapons, tried to catch up.
Boston Globe
