President Obama should give up the “fallacy” that world nuclear powers won’t use their weapons and instead begin investing in new nukes to show countries like Russia, China and North Korea that the U.S. has the muscle to back up its threats, according to a new report.
Noting Russia’s efforts to build a war doctrine employing nukes, the influential Center for Strategic & International Studies told Obama: “We need to get serious again about nuclear weapons.”
The plea was included in the annual CSIS world guide, “2015 Global Forecast: Crisis and Opportunity,” and was written with a sense of urgency that Obama move soon.
“Nuclear weapons still matter for the United States because they are the most credible way of deterring how other countries might employ their nuclear weapons against us,” wrote nuclear expert Clark A. Murdock. “We are in a second nuclear age and denial is no longer an option.”
He said that the U.S. has to match the efforts of Washington enemies.
“The fallacy of hoping that our competitors would give up their means for offsetting U.S. conventional power is laid bare by the actions of Russia, China and North Korea,” wrote Murdock in the report provided to Washington Secrets.
“As they plan for how to cope with a United States that increasingly acts as if nuclear war is unthinkable, they are thinking through how they might physically employ a nuclear weapon to demonstrate their willingness to escalate to the nuclear level,” wrote Murdock.
The solution: “Like our potential adversaries, we should develop and procure new nuclear weapons.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
