The Biden administration has affirmed its intention to scrap a Trump-era nuclear cruise missile program as well as other parts of the Trump administration’s nuclear weapons policy.
The federal government’s Nuclear Posture Review, released on Thursday, changed several aspects of Trump’s, mainly shifting U.S. nuclear capabilities to focus on strategic rather than tactical weapons. Perhaps the more significant change was the planned cancellation of the nuclear sea-launched cruise missile program, or SLCM-N, which had been a focus of the Trump administration. However, despite the administration’s announcement, the changes are unlikely to be realized due to opposition from bipartisan lawmakers and the military, experts told the Washington Examiner.
The new nuclear posture aims to “adopt a strategy and declaratory policy that maintain a very high bar for nuclear employment while assuring Allies and partners, and complicating adversary decision calculus,” the review says.
The NPR drew heavy criticism from disarmament advocates who see it as not doing enough and national security experts who review it as weakening the United States’s global standing.
via joemiller