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Air Force Head Concerned With Obama’s ‘No First Use’ Nuke Idea

Michael Smith, U.S. Army Photo

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Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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The White House announced it is considering signing a “no first use” nuclear policy, which has some officials “concerned.”

President Obama is considering changing U.S. nuclear policy to pledge that the U.S. will never adopt a first-strike policy. Obama’s proposal would limit America’s nuclear arsenal to responsive action only, reversing decades of “calculated ambiguity” in U.S. nuclear policy. Advocates say the policy would enforce the norm that nuclear weapons can only be used in the most extraordinary of circumstances, while critics say it would severely limit U.S. options in the midst of catastrophic war.

“I have questions about it. I would be concerned with it,”Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told Defense News on Aug. 3. The Air Force just requested funding to replace the aging arsenal nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. James indicated the funding request demonstrates how fundamentally important the Air Force believes nuclear weapons are to the Air Force’s ability to maintain air supremacy and project power across the globe.

James stressed nuclear weapons offer one of the most compelling “credible” threats against potential adversaries and that her concerns “relate to what is going on around the world. That’s why we need it.”

James’s allusions to world affairs are almost certainly a reference to Russian modernization of its nuclear arsenal. In early June reports surfaced that Russia is violating the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) by improperly eliminating elements of their nuclear arsenal. Russia has a demonstrable pattern of violating its nuclear agreements. The State Department in June 2014 issued a statement alleging Russia had violated its agreements to “not to possess, produce, or flight-test” an inter-continental ballistic missile. In 2015 the State Department confirmed Russia remained in violation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin committed on November 10, 2015 to “strengthen the potential of its strategic nuclear forces,” and the deployment of “attack systems” to counter NATO’s eastern defenses.

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