The Role of Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century U. S. Security Strategy

Abstract

The present paper aims to compare the approaches of the Bush and
Obama administrations towards the role of nuclear weapons in the United
States security strategy. The author focuses on the Nuclear Posture Review
(NPR) reports from 2001 and 2010, employing a detailed comparative
analysis of their respective content as well as their implications. The
analysis concentrates on broader conceptual issues as well as on the very
concrete steps related to specific elements of the United States strategic
arsenal. The author argues that the current political discourse, which
attributes a nearly revolutionary character to the approach of the Obama
administration to the United States nuclear policy, does not fully match the
actual dimension of the change between the NPR of 2001 and that of 2010.
In fact, the evolution of the United States nuclear strategy maintains its own
dynamics in many aspects.