America's
Pentagon believes using nuclear
weapons could “create conditions for decisive results and the
restoration of strategic stability”, according to a new nuclear
doctrine adopted by the US joint chiefs of staff last week. The
document, entitled Nuclear
Operations,
was published on 11 June, and was the first such doctrine paper for
14 years.
Arms
control experts say it marks a shift in US military thinking towards
the idea of fighting and winning a nuclear war – which they believe
is a highly dangerous mindset.
“Using
nuclear weapons could create conditions for decisive results and the
restoration of strategic stability,” the joint chiefs’ document
says. “Specifically, the use of a nuclear weapon will fundamentally
change the scope of a battle and create conditions that affect how
commanders will prevail in conflict.”
Steven
Aftergood, who directs the project on government secrecy for the
Federation
of American Scientists, said the new document “is very much
conceived as a war-fighting doctrine – not simply a deterrence
doctrine, and that’s unsettling”. He pointed out that, as an
operational document by the joint chiefs rather than a policy
documents, its role is to plan for worst-case scenarios. But
Aftergood added: “That kind of thinking itself can be hazardous. It
can make that sort of eventuality more likely instead of deterring
it.”
The
Trump administration is developing a low-yield ballistic missile,
which arms control advocates have said risks lowering the nuclear
threshold, making conceivable that a nuclear war could be “limited”,
rather than inevitably lead to a global cataclysm.
The
doctrine has been published in the wake of the Trump administration’s
withdrawal from two nuclear agreements: the 2015 joint
comprehensive programme of action with Iran, and the 1987
Intermediate-range
Nuclear Forces treaty with Russia. The administration is also
sceptical about a third: the New Start accord that limits US and
Russian forces strategic nuclear weapons and delivery systems, which
is due to expire in 2021. Meanwhile, the US and Russia are engaged in
multibillion-dollar nuclear weapon modernisation programmes.
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