Dear All, The recent decision by president Trump to resume nuclear testing is reckless at several levels, including its inaccurate and dangerous assumption that others (aside from the DPRK) are testing their own weapons. Our colleague Jacqueline Cabasso follows nuclear weapons issues more closely than I do and offers this reflection. Please follow these developments as they evolve and respond as you are able.
Donald Trump’s Truth Social announcement, “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” has raised alarms. But it’s hard to know what to make of it. The announcement is full of mistruths. Russia and China are not conducting explosive nuclear tests, so the U.S. has no basis to respond in kind. They are conducting missile tests, but so is the U.S. The Department of Defense (Department of War) is responsible for missile tests, but it is the Department of Energy that is responsible for preparation for explosive nuclear testing. It’s not clear to me that Trump understands any of this, or that his “announcement’ changes the status quo regarding explosive nuclear testing. I note also that Russia has previously said it would resume nuclear explosive testing if the U.S. conducts a test. Of course we must remain vigilant, but I caution against overreacting. I think we should try to use this as a teachable moment.
Since then, Hegseth has said that the DOD would work with DOE to conduct nuclear explosive tests, and DT, when asked about what kinds of nuclear tests he was referring to said, “We’ll see.” So I’m pretty sure that DT and Hegseth don’t know what they’re talking about, and we have no clarity about what DT’s tweet means. I will say that Project 2025 calls for a return to explosive nuclear testing. But I’m not ready to offer a definitive interpretation. – Jackie
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