Splitting the Atom on U.S. Nuclear Strategy

Earlier this year, the Biden administration revised its nuclear strategy, the nuclear employment guidance, which is updated approximately every four years. This time, however, the administration seems to have made some significant changes, placing greater emphasis on China given its growing nuclear capabilities, as well as directing the United States military to prepare for coordinated nuclear confrontations with Russia, China, and North Korea. To help us understand the significance of these reported changes, James Acton and Jon Wolfsthal join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend on this week’s episode of Brussels Sprouts.  

James Acton holds the Jessica T. Matthews Chair and is co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

Jon Wolfsthal is the Director of Global Risk at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and an Adjunct Fellow with us at CNAS.