Revised US nuclear doctrine outlines preemption strategy

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: EEkid () aol com
Date: September 11, 2005 9:55:30 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Revised US nuclear doctrine outlines preemption strategy


Revised US nuclear doctrine outlines preemption strategy


By Walter Pincus, Washington Post  |  September 11, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use  
of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential  
approval to preempt an attack by a nation or terror group using  
weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of  
using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear,  
biological, or chemical weapons.

The document, written by the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs staff but not  
yet approved by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, would update  
rules and procedures governing the use of nuclear weapons to reflect  
a preemption strategy first announced by the Bush White House in  
December 2002. The strategy was outlined in more detail at the time  
in classified national security directives.

At a White House briefing that year, a spokesman said the United  
States would ''respond with overwhelming force" to the use of weapons  
of mass destruction against the United States, its forces, or allies,  
and said ''all options" would be available to the president.

The draft, dated March 15, would provide authoritative guidance for  
commanders to request presidential approval for using nuclear  
weapons, and represents the Pentagon's first attempt to revise  
procedures to reflect the Bush preemption doctrine. A previous  
version, completed in 1995 during the Clinton administration,  
contains no mention of using nuclear weapons preemptively or  
specifically against threats from weapons of mass destruction.

Titled ''Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations" and written under the  
direction of Air Force General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the  
Joint Chiefs of Staff, the draft document is unclassified and  
available on a Pentagon website. It is expected to be signed within a  
few weeks by Air Force Lieutenant General Norton A. Schwartz,  
director of the Joint Staff, according to Navy Commander Dawn Cutler,  
a public affairs officer in Myers's office. Meanwhile, the draft is  
going through final coordination with the military services, the  
combatant commanders, Pentagon legal authorities, and Rumsfeld's  
office, Cutler said in a written statement.

A ''summary of changes" included in the draft identifies differences  
from the 1995 doctrine and says the new document ''revises the  
discussion of nuclear weapons use across the range of military  
operations."

The first example for potential nuclear weapon use listed in the  
draft is against an enemy that is using ''or intending to use WMD"  
against US or allied, multinational military forces or civilian  
populations.

Another scenario for a possible nuclear preemptive strike is in case  
of an ''imminent attack from adversary biological weapons that only  
effects from nuclear weapons can safely destroy."

That and other provisions in the document appear to refer to nuclear  
initiatives proposed by the administration that Congress has thus far  
declined to fully support.

Last year, for example, Congress refused to fund research toward the  
development of nuclear weapons that could destroy biological or  
chemical weapons materials without dispersing them into the  
atmosphere. The draft document also envisions the use of atomic  
weapons for ''attacks on adversary installations including WMD, deep,  
hardened bunkers containing chemical or biological weapons."

But Congress last year halted the funding of a study to determine the  
viability of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator warhead -- commonly  
called the bunker buster -- that the Pentagon has said is needed to  
attack hardened, deeply buried weapons sites.

The Joint Staff draft doctrine explains that despite the end of the  
Cold War, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction ''raises  
the danger of nuclear weapons use."

It says that there are ''about thirty nations with WMD programs"  
along with terrorists ''either independently or as sponsored by an  
adversarial state."

To meet that situation, the document says that ''responsible security  
planning requires preparation for threats that are possible, though  
perhaps unlikely today."

To deter the use of weapons of mass destruction against the United  
States, the Pentagon paper says preparations must be made to use  
nuclear weapons and show determination to use them ''if necessary to  
prevent or retaliate against WMD use."

The draft says that to deter a potential adversary from using weapons  
of mass destruction, that adversary's leadership must ''believe the  
United States has both the ability and will to preempt or retaliate  
promptly with responses that are credible and effective." The draft  
also notes that US policy in the past has ''repeatedly rejected calls  
for adoption of 'no first use' policy of nuclear weapons since this  
policy could undermine deterrence."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/11/ 
revised_us_nuclear_doctrine_outlines_preemption_strategy?mode=PF









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