NNSA
The United States is releasing newly declassified information on the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile to update the information previously released in October 2021. Increasing the transparency of states’ nuclear stockpiles is important to nonproliferation and disarmament efforts, including commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and efforts to address all types of nuclear weapons, including deployed and non-deployed, and strategic and non-strategic.
Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov | Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday warned the United States that if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany then Russia would station similar missiles in striking distance of the West…In a speech to sailors from Russia, China, Algeria and India to mark Russian navy day in the former imperial capital of St Petersburg, Putin warned the United States that it risked triggering a Cold War-style missile crisis with the move. "The flight time to targets on our territory of such missiles, which in the future may be equipped with nuclear warheads, will be about 10 minutes," Putin said."We will take mirror measures to deploy, taking into account the actions of the United States, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world."
Yonhap News Agency
The Cabinet on Tuesday passed a presidential decree to create a new military command in charge of strategic operations later this year to enhance deterrence against growing North Korean military threats, the defense ministry said. South Korea has sought to establish the strategic command to serve as an overarching organ to deter and respond to a North Korean nuclear or weapons of mass destruction (WMD) attack by utilizing key military assets from "high-power" ballistic missiles to special operations forces. With the approval, the unit is set to launch around October in southern Seoul, overseeing missile, cyber, drone and special operations units, as well as certain Navy and Air Force assets when needed, while leading efforts to integrate South Korea's advanced conventional forces with U.S. nuclear capabilities.
Soo-Hyang Choi and Jon Herskovitz | Bloomberg
North Korea may be considering a nuclear test near the time the US presidential election is held to raise its profile, South Korea’s defense minister said, as Kim Jong Un rolls out new warheads capable of striking the US and its allies in Asia…“North Korea has completed preparations to conduct a nuclear test when a decision is made,” Shin said. “We cannot rule out the possibility of that decisive moment being right before or after the US presidential election to raise its leverage against the US.”
Joshua A. Schwartz and Jaqueline L Hazelton | MIT Press Reader
Surprisingly, my research finds high support for hypothetical nuclear use, even when foreign countries press the nuclear “button.” In four survey experiments involving members of the public in the United States and India, support for hypothetical nuclear use is the same when an individual’s own country hypothetically uses nuclear weapons as when a foreign allied or partner country hypothetically uses nuclear weapons. For example, in one study on the U.S. public, support for a hypothetical nuclear attack against Iran was no different when Israel carried it out compared to the United States. Overall, I found that the use of nuclear weapons is not taboo in the United States and India. But support is lower when the public considers a non-allied or non-partner country’s hypothetical use of nuclear weapons.
Jeffrey Lewis | Foreign Affairs
The technical superiority of the American nuclear stockpile exists only because Russia and China quit testing and the United States invested heavily in science. If a second Trump administration resumed nuclear testing, Russia and China would surely follow suit—and because they have more to learn from each test, they would erode the United States’ advantage. Moreover, new or emerging nuclear weapons states—say, Iran or Saudi Arabia—would feel no constraints against carrying out explosion tests. The result would be that the United States’ nuclear-armed foes would be even more capable.