Nuclear Posture Reviews

Former President Bill Clinton
Source: www.nps.gov

The United States completed Nuclear Posture Reviews (NPRs) in 1994 and 2001, and a new NPR is expected to be released in April 2010. These reports, prepared by the Department of Defense (DOD), set out the framework for U.S. nuclear policy for the following five to 10 years. The purpose of the reviews is to determine the role of nuclear weapons in the broader context of U.S. security policy. In order to determine this role, the DOD and several appointed commissions assess nuclear policy in light of the global strategic environment, and then provide a collective recommendation to senior DOD staff, the president, and Congress. The NPR then becomes a guide for the operation and budget of the nuclear weapons community.

The 1994 Nuclear Posture Review

The United States in the post-Cold War era sought ways to improve its national security and nuclear deterrent posture. Of primary concern in the 1990s was what to do with the large nuclear forces that remained in the U.S. strategic arsenal. Policy-makers, faced with an uncertain global security environment after the collapse of the Soviet Union, tried to incorporate the Cold War "legacy" nuclear forces into a new geostrategic situation. The culmination of these efforts led to the Nuclear Posture Review in 1994 during the first Clinton administration.

Nuclear Triad. The 1994 NPR, the first of its kind in 15 years, reaffirmed the centrality and legitimacy of strategic deterrence, which is based on the threat of retaliation with nuclear weapons in the event that the United States is attacked by another state with nuclear weapons. Specifically, the 1994 NPR focused on Russia as the primary nuclear threat to the United States, in keeping with the Cold War stance of previous decades. It also confirmed the importance of maintaining the existing nuclear triad comprised of bombers, submarines, and land-based ballistic missiles. However, the review also recognized that the role of nuclear weapons in the post-Cold War world had largely diminished and additionally that the United States did not require such large numbers within its arsenal.

Arms Control. The 1994 NPR affirmed U.S. commitments to international and bilateral arms control agreements, including the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program, and START I. The 1994 NPR emphasized U.S. commitments to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which forbids all testing of nuclear weapons. President Clinton signed the CTBT in 1996, and although this treaty has never been ratified, the United States is still obligated under international law to comply with its terms.

The Hedge Force. The NPR also called for the creation of a hedge force, whereby warheads removed from their delivery platforms (missiles) would be kept in storage. The hedge force was meant to be an insurance policy against the possibility that the positive, emerging relationship with Russia might quickly take a turn for the worse. In that case, it was argued, the United States would be in a better strategic position against Russia if it retained a large portion of its Cold War nuclear arsenal.

Further Reading:

• Federation of American Scientists, 1994 Nuclear Posture Review
• Center for Defense Information, Kathyrn R. Schulz, "U.S. Nuclear Posture and Doctrine Since the End of the Cold War"
• The Nuclear Information Project, "The 1994 Nuclear Posture Review"
• CRS, Amy F. Woolf, "U.S. Nuclear Weapons: Changes in Policy and Force Structure"
• The Nautilus Institute, "The 1994 Nuclear Posture Review"
• The Nautilus Institute, "The 1994 Nuclear Posture Review: The Relationship Between Alternative Nuclear Postures and Counterproliferation Policy"