Arms Control Today Article Reports: New Nuclear Plan Falls Short of Bush Pledge
A draft Pentagon doctrine calls for maintaining an aggressive nuclear posture with weapons on high alert to strike
adversaries armed with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), pre-emptively if necessary, according to an article by Hans
Kristensen published September 6 in Arms Control Today, the monthly journal of the Arms Control Association.
Nearly four years ago, the Bush administration unveiled its nuclear posture review, claiming that it would significantly
change U.S. nuclear policy and reduce the role of nuclear weapons. Yet, as Hans M. Kristensen writes, "the new U.S.
nuclear doctrine falls far short of fulfilling the administration's publicly stated goals. Instead of replacing the role
of nuclear weapons, the new doctrine merely calls for conventional forces and missile defenses to complement them."
The doctrine, the first formal update since the Bush administration took office, is entitled "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear
Operations" and has been strongly influenced by the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) and other directives published by the
Bush administration since 2001. A final version is expected later this fall. The draft doctrine and editing comments
were freely available on the Internet until recently, providing a rare glimpse into the secret world of nuclear planning
in the post-Cold War era.
The full article is available on the Arms Control Association's website: http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2005_09/Kristensen.asp. Arms Control Today encourages reprints of its articles with permission of the Editor. The doctrine and related
documents are available at http://www.nukestrat.com/us/jcs/jp.htm.