Biden’s Security Plan Released

In August, the White House announced that it would release an overdue National Security Strategy. This long-awaited National Security Strategy came months after it was already deemed as “overdue.” On Wednesday, the Biden Administration put out its updated Strategy. The National Security Strategy calls for more “diversity and inclusion” and a commitment to strengthening the U.S. nuclear arsenal. This comes on the tail of Biden’s fear mongering that warned of an upcoming nuclear Armageddon.

The strategy includes a commitment to strengthening the U.S. nuclear arsenal at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use nukes in Ukraine and as the Pentagon warns of China’s growing arsenal of the destructive bombs.

The strategy names Russia and China as major powers that threaten U.S. security, but it also notes an evolving terrorist threat from foreign militants and domestic extremists. Combating that will require both military intervention and “addressing the root causes of radicalization” with help from foreign partners.

In an effort to “amplify our capacity to respond to shared challenges,” the White House strategy calls for deepening and modernizing defense and intelligence alliances like NATO, Five Eyes (with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K.), and the Quad (with Australia, India and Japan).

For the Indo-Pacific, the strategy calls for building the collective capacity of U.S. partners in the region and stronger ties between likeminded countries. AUKUS, the year-old alliance based on sharing U.S. and U.K. nuclear submarine technology and other defense-related know-how with Australia, will be “critical to addressing regional challenges.”

The strategy also pledges the U.S. will rely less on the threat of nuclear weapons as a strategic centerpiece, but also emphasizes the need to invest in modernizing the nuclear triad and the country’s commitments to protect allies.

“Nuclear deterrence remains a top priority for the nation and foundational to integrated deterrence,” it states.

It alludes to China’s growing nuclear arsenal as a motivator for U.S. investment in its own weapons.

“By the 2030s, the United States for the first time will need to deter two major nuclear powers, each of whom will field modern and diverse global and regional nuclear forces,” the strategy says.

Congress is poised to block the Biden administration’s plan to cancel the submarine-launched cruise missile, known as the SLCM-N, and it has yet to decide on how it will approach the administration’s plan to retire the B83 gravity bomb. The administration stopped short of setting a “no first use” policy that arms control advocates have sought.

Paul Crespo