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The United States completed
Nuclear Posture Reviews (NPR) in 1994 and 2001. These reports, prepared by
the Department of Defense (DOD), set out the framework for U.S.
nuclear policy for the next five to ten years. The purpose of the
reviews was to determine what role nuclear weapons play in the
broader context of U.S. security policy. For both NPRs,
the DOD and several appointed commissions assessed nuclear policy in light of the global strategic environment,
and provided a collective recommendation to senior DOD staff, the president, and Congress. The NPRs then became
a guide for the operation and budget of the nuclear weapons community.
The 1994 Nuclear Posture Review
The United States in the post-Cold War era has sought ways to improve its national
security and nuclear deterrent posture. Of primary concern in the 1990s was
what to do with the large
nuclear forces that remained in the U.S. strategic arsenal.
Policy-makers, faced with an uncertain global security environment
after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, tried to incorporate the Cold War "legacy" nuclear
forces into a new geostrategic situation. The culmination of these
efforts led to the Nuclear Posture
Review in 1994 during the first Clinton administration.
Nuclear Triad. The 1994 NPR, the first of its kind in
15 years, reaffirmed the centrality and legitimacy of strategic deterrence,
which is based on the threat of retaliation with nuclear weapons if
the United States is attacked by another state with nuclear weapons. It also confirmed the
importance of
maintaining the existing
nuclear triad comprised of bombers,
submarines, and land-based ballistic missiles.
Arms Control. The 1994 NPR also affirmed U.S. commitments
to international and bilateral arms control agreements, including
the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the
Cooperative Threat
Reduction Program (CTR), and
START I.
The 1994 NPR emphasized U.S. commitments to the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT),
which forbids all testing of nuclear weapons. President Clinton
signed the CTBT in 1996, and although this treaty has never been
ratified, the United States is still obligated under international
law to
comply with its terms.
The Hedge Force. The NPR also called for the creation of a
hedge force, whereby warheads removed from
their delivery platforms (missiles) would be kept in storage.
The hedge force was meant to be an insurance policy against the
possibility that the positive, emerging relationship with Russia
might quickly take a turn for the worse. In that
case, it was argued, the United States would be in a better
strategic position against Russia if it retained a large portion of its
Cold War nuclear arsenal.
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