“Insane.” “Deeply dangerous.” Raises the risk of “nuclear exchange” and a “new arms race.” These are some of the serious accusations leveled against the recently leaked Nuclear Posture Review. Each presidential administration since Clinton has written an NPR, primarily to guide U.S. nuclear policy and priorities, but the 2018 NPR is shaping up to be… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: “When does that moment come when their program matures and goes across those redlines? At the pace we’re on, it’s just a matter of time. If something doesn’t change, it will be inevitable these redlines are met — if there’s another test of a warhead.” Sen. Lindsey Graham appeared to document one of the redlines he… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The days when America spoke of eliminating nuclear weapons are over, faced with Russian, Chinese and North Korean moves to build, boost or rebuild their nuclear forces. That’s the most essential message of the leaked Nuclear Posture Review. (Kudos to my colleague Ashley Feinberg at Huffington Post for getting this one.) The Pentagon immediately issued… Keep reading →

We’re partnering with the Center for Strategic and International Studies to bring you their fab Bad Ideas series through the Christmas holiday season. This one deals with an issue our readers have grappled with several times over the last decade — should America take its ICBMs off alert. It’s sure to have been a central discussion… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: When the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee went to talk with the almost mystical Pentagon gang known as the Office of Net Assessment, they told him America can’t afford to execute the strategy we’re pursuing. “I asked them what they were lacking. They didn’t have an answer,” Rep. Adam Smith told… Keep reading →

CORRECTED: Inserted Photo Of Minuteman III; Removed Photo Of Titan WASHINGTON: Gen. Robin Rand, the Air Force bomber and missile boss, really wants new jet engines for his aging B-52s. The service has invited interested companies to a two-day information session in December and Boeing and Rolls-Royce are already publicly campaigning for the contract. But,… Keep reading →

  Corrected: The article referred to the E-4B command aircraft, but Brig. Gen. Bowen was referring to the E-6B. WASHINGTON: The men and women of US Strategic Command watched a clock count down. When it did, they knew their base would be “a smoking hole in the ground.” It was a simulation, sure, but “it’s deadly serious,”… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Air Force Chief of Staff appeared to be talking about putting nuclear-armed bombers back on 24-hour alert, but the man who’d make the decision, the head of Strategic Command, wasn’t. After my colleague Marcus Weisgerber reported that Gen. David Goldfein said the Air Force was considering putting bombers back on alert, I checked with… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: North Korea probably has its own reasons for putting Guam back on the targeting map, but they did it on the same day President Trump officially refused to certify the nuclear deal with Iran. Trump said he “cannot and will not” certify the deal as being in America’s national interest and threatened to cancel… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: President Trump was pretty excited when he announced that the central Chinese bank ordered the cessation of all financial business with North Korea. Dean Cheng, the Heritage Foundation’s expert on China and its military, is much less excited. Cheng’s much more skeptical that this latest Chinese move will make any long-term difference in the… Keep reading →