That the Trump “administration” has been a disaster for the international arms control treaty obligations of the United States is unquestionable. They’ve abrogated the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that had contained the deployment of nuclear-armed missiles in Europe since 1987, they’re now pulling out of the Treaty on Open Skies, and they ditched the Iran Nuclear Treaty. But now they’re going to send us down an even more dangerous road, if Trump gets his way. According to the Washington Post, the administration has been discussing resuming nuclear weapons testing. While the U.S. has never ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, we have abided by it’s provisions since 1992. That could all be changing:
The Trump administration has discussed whether to conduct the first U.S. nuclear test explosion since 1992 in a move that would have far-reaching consequences for relations with other nuclear powers and reverse a decades-long moratorium on such actions, said a senior administration official and two former officials familiar with the deliberations.
The matter came up at a meeting of senior officials representing the top national security agencies May 15, following accusations from administration officials that Russia and China are conducting low-yield nuclear tests — an assertion that has not been substantiated by publicly available evidence and that both countries have denied.
It seems that the reasoning behind this is an attempt to strong-arm the Chinese into joining the nuclear arms talks with the U.S. and Russia. It’s an intimidation tactic. Unfortunately, it’s also one that’s likely to blow up (pun absolutely intended) in Trump’s face. Just the fact that the U.S. conducted such a test is dangerous (and unnecessary) according to arms control experts:
“It would be an invitation for other nuclear-armed countries to follow suit,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “It would be the starting gun to an unprecedented nuclear arms race. You would also disrupt the negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who may no longer feel compelled to honor his moratorium on nuclear testing.”
…
“If this administration believes that a nuclear test explosion and nuclear brinkmanship is going to coerce negotiating partners to make unilateral concessions, that’s a dangerous ploy,” Kimball said.
But, as we know, Trump doesn’t listen to experts, even ones in his own administration. The article points out that officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration objected during the discussion, but apparently had their concerns dismissed.
This move is a major escalation of Trump’s use of the military as a campaign prop and personal plaything. In trying to prove that he has the national security chops and the machismo to face down other world leaders, he keeps making these dangerous moves that decrease, rather than increase, our national security. But Trump simply doesn’t understand or care, as long as he thinks it makes him look “strong”. Hopefully, someone can distract him from this long enough that he won’t be able to manage a test before he’s thrown out of office in November. Otherwise, we might all need to start practicing those “duck and cover” drills again as Trump fosters another Cold War.