Rising Concerns About Nuclear War as Trump Prepares to Loosen Constraints on Weapons

Advocates of nuclear disarmament are raising alarms about reports that the Trump administration is planning to loosen constraints on the U.S. nuclear weapons program, warning that the Pentagon’s forthcoming plan “makes nuclear war more likely.”

Jon Wolfsthal, an official who worked on arms control in the Obama administration and has reviewed what he believes is the final version of the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), told the Guardian the Pentagon’s new review includes plans to develop more nuclear weapons and expand “the circumstances in which the U.S. might use its nuclear arsenal, to include a response to a non-nuclear attack that caused mass casualties, or was aimed at critical infrastructure or nuclear command and control sites.”

Wolfsthal said those crafting the NPR wanted to employ “strong language that makes clear that any attempt by Russia or North Korea to use nuclear weapons would result in a massive consequence,” which he believes is “very much needed,” while the plan to develop two new types of nuclear weapons is “where they go overboard,” because the U.S. already has low-yield weapons, so the additions would be “totally unneccessary.”

“Both the NSS and the soon-to-be-published Nuclear Posture Review reflect Trump’s seeming obsession with nuclear weapons and nuclear war.”
— Kate Hudson, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Meanwhile, Kate Hudson, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, expressed overall concerns about the “dangerous new policy” that will be outlined in the NPR, which is expected to released after U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address at the end of the month.

“If it includes, as reports indicate, a plan to develop two new types of nuclear weapons,” Hudson said, “the weapons will be deemed more ‘usable’ and nuclear war will be more likely.”