Nuclear weapons are serious capabilities, and declaratory policies are serious commitments. So readers who have followed the US government’s nuclear posture product line since President Bill Clinton’s first review in 1994 have learned to expect both elegant wordsmithing and substantial elements of continuity in a policy that has long been broadly bipartisan. Moreover, it’s impossible to divorce thinking about nuclear weapons from the level of threat in the international security environment. Darker security environments naturally reinforce policy conservatism—and the current security environment is as gloomy as it has been in many a year.
Read Full Article »
