Since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, justification for the United States’ nuclear arsenal has changed dramatically. In keeping with a changing international security environment, each of the last four US administrations has updated the mission of US nuclear forces by preparing a Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). In February, the current administration publicly released its NPR, deviating (in both tone and stated objectives) from the Obama administration NPR in 2010, which itself played down several objectives of the Bush administration NPR of 2002.
In this overview talk, I will examine the protean posture of the United States toward its nuclear weaponry since the end of the Cold War. Besides a summary of the pertinent public facts (e.g., currently-deployed US weapons, status of US nuclear-weapons infrastructure, and treaty obligations), I will discuss new technical developments over the last five years in the United States, Russia, and North Korea that are potentially at odds with all three countries’ publicly-affirmed goal of “complete nuclear disarmament”.