The new nuclear weapon the Pentagon doesn't really want, except as a bargaining chip

The Trump administration’s just-released Nuclear Posture Review includes plans for two new weapons: A lower-yield variant of the warhead currently deployed atop submarine-launched long-range missiles, and a submarine-launched cruise missile, or SLCM, that would also carry a low-yield warhead.

But Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told House lawmakers Tuesday the U.S. doesn’t really want to bring back the SLCM (pronounced “slick-em”), a Cold War weapon that President George H.W. Bush stopped deploying and President Barack Obama eliminated from the U.S. nuclear arsenal.