President Barack Obama has made getting rid of all the world’s nuclear weapons a prominent talking point in his overseas foreign policy speeches. But speeches aside, little concrete has actually been done to reduce, let alone eliminate the American arsenal.
The Pentagon’s early comments about its upcoming Nuclear Posture Review have been far from promising. Yet Obama has reportedly rejected the first draft and is now ordering a “radical” review of the Pentagon’s nuclear weapons doctrine.
It seems that the president faces an uphill battle with the Pentagon, whose hawkish leadership seems to have lined up almost completely in favor of creating newer and better weapons of mass destruction, and is fighting tooth and nail against the idea that the US should significantly cut its massive arsenal.
And even if President Obama manages to get around the Pentagon’s resistance, it seems he will face considerable Congressional opposition to even basic moves like signing the test ban treaty. His speeches may give lip service to the idea of disarmament, but it seems that in practice Obama must already realize little if anything is going to change.