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The US is considering the use of more strategic nuclear weapons, a senior Biden official said.
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Russia, China and North Korea are rapidly expanding their nuclear capabilities, Pranay Vaddi said.
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The US must modernize its nuclear arsenal to deter threats and maintain stability, the official said.
The US is considering deploying more strategic nuclear weapons after years of post-Cold War cuts, a senior Biden administration official said.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the Arms Control Association (ACA) on Friday, Pranay Vaddi, the National Security Council’s top arms control official, said: “We may reach a point in the coming years where an increase from current population numbers is necessary. to be fully prepared to implement if the President makes that decision.”
Vaddi warned that US adversaries, specifically referring to Russia, China and North Korea, “are all expanding and diversifying their nuclear arsenals at a breakneck pace, showing little or no interest in arms control.”
Along with Iran, “these countries are increasingly cooperating and coordinating with each other in ways that run counter to peace and stability, threaten the United States, our allies and our partners and exacerbate tensions in the region,” he said.
Vaddi’s comments contrast with the US government’s position on nuclear proliferation as outlined by the National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan at last year’s ACA meeting.
Sullivan said the US did not need to “deploy increasingly dangerous nuclear weapons to maintain deterrence” or engage in a Cold War-style arms race.
‘We’ve been there. We learned that lesson,” Sullivan said.
In February last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin withdrew from the 2010 New START treaty, which imposed controls on the number of nuclear weapons that Russia and the US could have at their disposal.
The limits meant that neither country could have more than 1,550 nuclear warheads.
Putin said that to resume treaty activities, the US must end its support for Ukraine and force France and Britain to attend arms control talks.
At the time, President Joe Biden called Putin’s decision a “big mistake.”
Last week, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened nuclear attacks on the West, Reuters reported.
The former president held this position from 2008 to 2012 and is currently deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council.
Reuters reported that Medvedev said: “No one today can rule out the transition of the conflict to its final phase.”
In May, Russia announced tactical nuclear weapons exercises near Ukraine, which it said were being held in response to recent “threats” from the West.
Speaking about the growing threat of nuclear conflict, Vaddi said: “We will have no choice but to adapt our posture and capabilities to maintain deterrence and stability.”
“We must convince our adversaries that managing rivalry through arms control is preferable to unbridled competition,” he said.
Read the original article on Business Insider
