| Publication |
2011.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Contrasting the nuclear guidance documents and public statements of the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations reveals significant differences in American nuclear policy, but also surprising continuities. Bush's aim was never disarmament, but rather extending the life and potential role of American nuclear weaponry. An evaluation of the guidance documents that developed this approach, and major development programmes like the Reliable Replacement Warhead, shows that the Bush strategy was an attempted quiet revolution that foreshadowed a new nuclear era in which the former 'weapon of last resort' became a usable and necessary war-fighting device.
In contrast, Barack Obama promised significant changes in American nuclear policy. In his April 2009 speech in Prague, Obama offered a vision of a transformed international security context and the goal of total nuclear disarmament. Although he made eventual nuclear disarmament the central goal of American nuclear weapons policy, Obama stopped short of change on critical issues that have lingered since the Cold War. A moderate NPR and New START Treaty, together with pragmatic developments at the Nuclear Security Summit and the 2010 NPT Review Conference, as well as on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, indicate that the role of nuclear weapons in American security policy has changed less than is widely assumed. Obama has pursued a policy of nuclear balance, with incremental steps toward disarmament accompanied by measures to retain American primacy and nuclear options.
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