PRESS RELEASE

10 January 2002

Nuclear Weapons Document Touts Cuts
While Escalating Risks

The US Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the first since 1994, was released this week in private sessions with administration officials and congressional leaders.  While the review promises deep reductions in the US nuclear arsenal, it also threatens renewed nuclear testing and expanded roles for the weapons. 

In addition, a significant portion of the nuclear weapons cuts promised in the NPR, are likely to result in the weapons and missiles being put into storage rather than being destroyed.  While deactivating US nuclear weapons is a welcome step, the “hedge” maintained by the Bush administration would allow the United States to re-deploy the nuclear weapons in the future. 

“The cuts offered in the NPR are a mirage.  The Pentagon isn’t recommending genuine reductions at all,” noted Dr Ian Davis, BASIC’s director.  “Placing nuclear weapons into storage allows the United States to sustain its current level of lethality, just in a different place.”

In addition, flying in the face of the Clinton administration’s commitment to the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, the NPR suggests that the future holds opportunities for nuclear weapons tests.  The review recommends that the United States reduce the time necessary to prepare its nuclear test sites, a first step toward resuming nuclear testing.  It currently takes two years to prepare a US site for nuclear testing.

Attention also was paid to whether nuclear weapons should be used to attack hardened and deeply-buried targets.  Influential voices within the administration believe that conventional weapons are ill-equipped to tackle these threats.  While a recent report indicated that the US DoD “has not defined a requirement for a nuclear weapon for WMD Agent Defeat missions”, the NPR has examined further research into modifying existing nuclear weapons to fulfill this role. 

In conjunction with a streamlined, tested nuclear force that may be enhanced with low-yield weapons, missile defense is endorsed by the NPR as part of “a transformation of our deterrence posture… to a force that includes defenses as well as offenses,” according to Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense.

“The new NPR increases risks, and doesn’t decrease the nuclear threat,” said Mark Bromley, analyst at BASIC.  “Rather than confronting proliferation with diplomatic tools and measures to regulate weapons materials and technologies, the United States is placing nuclear weapons at the very heart of its strategic planning for years to come.  Building up a fortress of offensive and defensive systems will only serve to increase global tensions and does little to tackle the security threats faced globally.” 

For more information, please contact:
 Mark Bromley at +44 (0)20 7407 2977 or 
Christine Kucia at +1 202 347 8340

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