Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Report: Trump Administration Will Loosen Rules On The Use Of Nuclear Weapons And To Proceed WIth The Development Smaller Warheads

An unarmed Trident II D5 missile launches from the Ohio-class fleet ballistic-missile submarine USS Maryland

The Guardian: US to loosen nuclear weapons constraints and develop more 'usable' warheads

* New proposal is significantly more hawkish than Obama-era policy
* Critics call development of new weapons ‘dangerous, Cold War thinking’

The Trump administration plans to loosen constraints on the use of nuclear weapons and develop a new low-yield nuclear warhead for US Trident missiles, according to a former official who has seen the most recent draft of a policy review.

Jon Wolfsthal, who was special assistant to Barack Obama on arms control and nonproliferation, said the new nuclear posture review prepared by the Pentagon, envisages a modified version of the Trident D5 submarine-launched missiles with only part of its normal warhead, with the intention of deterring Russia from using tactical warheads in a conflict in Eastern Europe.

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WNU Editor: These news reports are based on a former official's remarks who has seen the most recent draft of this policy review.

More News On Reports That The Trump Administration Will Loosen Rules On The Use Of Nuclear Weapons And To Proceed With The Development Of Smaller Warheads

Trump administration will 'increase risk of nuclear war' with new plans to develop smaller warheads that are less destructive and a loosening of 'first-use' constraints, experts warn -- Daily Mail
Trump Administration Plans to Develop Nuclear Warheads for Trident Missiles -- Newsweek
Trump administration set for more hawkish position on nuclear weapons -- The National
Fears raised of Cold War tensions as Trump team to announce US will have smaller nukes with looser rules -- IBTimes
Trump’s new nuke ‘posture’: Draft allows nuclear response to conventional attack and new warheads -- RT

1 comment:

B.Poster said...

It's actually past time for this to happen. The US very likely lacks the conventional capabilities or the ability to build conventional capabilities that many of its adversaries or potential adversaries have. In such an environment, the US will have to rely more on a nuclear deterrent than other major powers will.