Biden drafting ‘options’ for Trump to enhance US nuclear forces – WSJ

The president-elect will reportedly have a head start in deterring rival powers if they decide to increase the number of warheads

The US is drawing up plans to potentially boost its nuclear forces to keep Russia, China, and North Korea at bay if arms-control diplomacy fails, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

According to the paper, President Joe Biden signed a classified nuclear weapons directive earlier this year, ordering the Pentagon to “develop options to simultaneously deter aggression” from the other nuclear powers.

Biden administration officials told the WSJ that this policy focuses on developing advanced non-nuclear systems and forging deeper ties with allies in Asia and Europe. However, the Pentagon “is also preparing options to deploy more nuclear warheads should those efforts prove insufficient,” or in the event that arms-control diplomacy falls flat, or delays occur in fielding new US nuclear systems, the paper said.

One senior WSJ source warned that, “if current trends continue in the negative direction with Russia saying ‘no’ to arms control, China building up and North Korea building up, there may be a need to increase the number of deployed US nuclear weapons in the future.” 

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However, the outlet noted that the final decision on whether the US needs to bolster its nuclear posture would depend on the approach of Trump, who will officially take office in January. The Republican will have some “ready options” on the table, including adding warheads to Minuteman III ICBM missiles, deploying additional submarine-based nuclear weapons, or resuming the development of a submarine that carries nuclear-armed cruise missiles.

Trump’s team “will be inheriting some rigorous homework and options,” Vipin Narang, a former senior defense official, told the paper. “So they can pick up the ball and continue to run with it.”

The US and Russia have the largest nuclear arsenals in the world, accounting for over 90% of all nukes globally. Tensions, including over Ukraine, have brought bilateral relations to an all-time low, and this has spilled over into arms-control talks.

While Biden said in October that the US was ready for nuclear talks with Russia without any preconditions, Moscow has dismissed the statement as “deception” and a ruse to score more political points to fuel the Democrats’ election campaign. Russian officials have also said that tackling such an issue was impossible without taking into account the overall security landscape.

During his first term in the White House, Trump was critical of the New START treaty, the last arms-control treaty between the two powers that caps Russian and US strategic nuclear arsenals, expressing concern that it did not include China.