Sec Clinton: You Can Have Too Many Nuclear Weapons Posted by David Shorr

For former speechwriter reasons, no doubt, Heather really liked the way Secretary Clinton used the verb cling, as in "Clinging to nuclear weapons in excess of our security needs does not make the United States safer." Heather and I agree that this was a key passage in Clinton's excellent major address on nonproliferation today at US Institute of Peace, but I actually think the adjective excess is more important and links to other favorite points in the speech.

The perennial question of whether you can be too rich or too thin is a subject for another blog, but I'm glad Clinton has clarified the matter of having too many nuclear weapons. I'm glad because the question of how many you need leads to the question of why you have them. And then of course the issue of the consequences of having too many.

Not only is this where the debate needs to go, it represents a significant shift. Because most arguments you hear for keeping (or adding new) high levels of nuclear weapons treat them as symbols of (a very strange notion of) strength. It's high time we talked about why our country has history's most destructive weapons in our arsenal. Only when we've clarified the role and purpose of nuclear forces 20 years after the end of the Cold War can we make sound decisions about how many we need -- and how many are excessive.

Oh, Secretary Clinton's speech. Sorry. Here's how she talked about it:

But we must do more than reduce the numbers of our nuclear weapons. We must also reduce the role they play in our security. In this regard, the ongoing Nuclear Posture Review will be a key milestone. It will more accurately calibrate the role, size, and composition of our nuclear stockpile to the current and future international threat environments. And it will provide a fundamental reassessment of U.S. nuclear force posture, levels, and doctrine. Carried out in consultation with our allies, it will examine the role of nuclear weapons in deterring today’s threats and review our declaratory policies with respect to the circumstances in which the United States would consider using nuclear weapons.

There is another important dimension, though:

As part of the NPR, the Nuclear Posture Review, we are grappling with key questions: What is the fundamental purpose of the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal? Will our deterrence posture help the United States encourage others to reduce their arsenals and advance our nonproliferation agenda? How can we provide reassurance to our allies in a manner that reinforces our nonproliferation objectives? [Emphasis added.]

Right, our nonproliferation agenda. This is another essential difference of perspectives with hard-liners. The way they look at it, moral authority and holding up our own end of the bargain make no difference. It should be so obvious that the other guys are worse that we're morally superior regardless of our own actions. Back to Secretary Clinton:

We are under no illusions that the START agreement will persuade Iran and North Korea to end their illicit nuclear activities. But it will demonstrate that the United States is living up to its Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty obligation to work toward nuclear disarmament. In doing so, it will help convince the rest of the international community to strengthen nonproliferation controls and tighten the screws on states that flout that their nonproliferation commitments.

I couldn't have said it better.

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