President Barack Obama promised to "reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same." Bounding the role of the U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal will be essential to the administration's efforts to strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime writes Joshua Pollack [2], columnist for the Ploughshares-funded ArmsControlWonk [3]. In this column, Pollack outlines why Obama’s promise isn’t just an idealistic gesture.