Critiquing the NPR’s New Nuclear Missions

Abstract

This chapter explores the most controversial aspect of the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR): the identification of possible new roles and missions for U.S. nuclear weapons.¹ The NPR lists three ways in which the United States might use nuclear weapons in future conflicts: (1) to destroy underground facilities that house weapons of mass destruction, leadership, and command and control assets; (2) to defeat chemical and biological agents; and (3) to attack mobile and relocatable targets. Although the United States long considered many or all of these missions vis-à-vis the Soviet Union (and now, presumably, Russia), the NPR states that “new capabilities must be developed to defeat emerging threats,” which presumably refers to North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya, which are apparently mentioned in the document. As a result of the NPR, an “advanced concepts initiative” was established to explore “possible modifications to existing weapons to provide additional yield flexibility in the stockpile; improved earth penetrating weapons (EPWs) to counter the increased use of potential adversaries of hardened and deeply buried facilities; and warheads that reduce collateral damage.” According to the NPR, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Nuclear Security Agency will “jointly review potential programs to provide nuclear capabilities, and identify opportunities for further study, including assessments of whether nuclear testing would be required to field such warheads.”²