What if fielding more nuclear weapons makes the United States less secure, not more? That question is now at the center of a growing debate as the United States confronts a nuclear landscape shaped by two major nuclear rivals.
China is rapidly expanding and modernizing its nuclear arsenal, while the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), the last remaining nuclear arms control deal between the United States and Russia, has expired. In what appears as the beginning of a new, more dangerous nuclear age, some analysts believe the United States should increase the size of its deployed nuclear arsenal. Others believe that increasing the number of warheads on existing launchers is unnecessary and will prompt a new nuclear arms race. While deploying more nuclear warheads is tempting in the short term, it is strategically flawed. It would provide the United States a marginal deterrent benefit while further fueling a trilateral nuclear arms race for which Washington is ill-prepared.
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