Lawmakers in both the House and the Senate introduced legislation Wednesday that would restrict the U.S. from initiating use of nuclear weapons.
Spearheaded by Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Senate Armed Services Committee members Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the lawmakers argued that “our current nuclear strategy is not just outdated — it is dangerous.”
“By making clear that deterrence is the sole purpose of our arsenal, this bill would reduce the chances of a nuclear miscalculation and help us maintain our moral and diplomatic leadership in the world,” Smith and Warren said.
The legislation, which Smith also introduced in 2017, is not expected to gain support from President Trump. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. has claimed that a “no first use” policy for nuclear weapons was not justified and that the U.S. was seeking to preserve ambiguity concerning what would warrant the U.S. to employ nuclear weapons.
“To help preserve deterrence and the assurance of allies and partners, the United States has never adopted a ‘no first use’ policy and, given the contemporary threat environment, such a policy is not justified today,” the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review from 2018 said. “It remains the policy of the United States to retain some ambiguity regarding the precise circumstances that might lead to a U.S. nuclear response.”
Smith and Warren’s legislation isn’t the first attempt to limit Trump’s ability to use nuclear weapons. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., unveiled a bill earlier this month that demands the president to obtain congressional approval before using nuclear weapons, given that previous presidents have found ways to bypass Congress in order to take military action.
Former President Barack Obama, who promised to eventually eliminate nuclear weapons when he ran for president in 2008, weighed a “no first use” policy in 2016, but the policy was abandoned amid pushback from top administration officials including Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., cited the Obama administration’s rejection of a such a policy as she criticized Smith and Warren’s proposal.
“Calculated ambiguity has long been an element of U.S. nuclear declaratory policy,” Fischer said in a statement Wednesday. “Presidents from both parties, including the Obama administration, have rejected a no-first-use policy because it erodes deterrence, undermines allied confidence in U.S. security guarantees and risks emboldening potential adversaries. With Russia and China increasingly attempting to intimidate our neighbors — some of whom are U.S. allies — this is the wrong message to send.”
