Confronting the threat of a Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine

CIA Director Bill Burns warned in a speech last week that the possibility of Russia using tactical nuclear weapons should “not be taken lightly.”

Coming from Burns, perhaps the most experienced and effective national security official in the Biden administration, this is nothing to sneeze about. A former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Burns knows Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as any serving official. And Burns spoke about a Putin who has been backed into the corner — desperate, angry, and humiliated. He used a memorable line that Putin was “an apostle of payback.”