It Is Time Congress Save the Nuclear Arsenal
By Adam Lowther & Curtis McGiffin
March 07, 2023
Ukraine marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s February 24, 2022, invasion last Friday. This sad occasion came three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty and two days before Putin proclaimed that he would “strengthen” the Russian nuclear triad arsenal. These decisions come on the heels of President Putin’s repeated threats to use nuclear weapons against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for its support of Ukraine.
With the ongoing death and mayhem in Ukraine receiving most of the attention, it is worth remembering that China is in the midst of a massive expansion of its nuclear arsenal. If estimates are correct, China will field a peer or superior arsenal to the United States. It is also worth remembering that North Korea is in the midst of its own nuclear expansion.
In short, America’s nuclear-armed adversaries are in the process of modernizing and expanding their arsenals at a time when the United States is struggling to modernize an arsenal that will soon be vastly smaller than its adversaries. And, since the United States does not field an effective tactical nuclear arsenal (no, American “political weapons” in Europe do not count), Russia, China, and North Korea already dominate the United States when it comes to low-yield theater nuclear weapons.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/03/07/it_is_time_congress_save_the_nuclear_arsenal_885704.html
