US officials unclear if Trump seeks nuclear weapons delivery system tests or ending 33-year moratorium
\n Washington
\nIf US Navy Vice Admiral Richard Correll thought he was going to have an easy confirmation hearing on Thursday to become the commander of America\u2019s nuclear forces, those hopes surely vanished at 9:04pm the night before he was to testify.
\nThat was when President Donald Trump shocked the world by announcing on social media that he had asked the US military to \u201cstart testing our Nuclear Weapons\u201d, saying the United States could not fall behind Russia and China.
\n\u201cRussia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years,\u201d Trump said.
\nDuring a roughly 90-minute hearing on Thursday morning at the Senate Armed Services Committee, Correll faced repeated questions about Trump\u2019s comments from puzzled US lawmakers, embodying the confusion that the Republican president unleashed in Washington and beyond.
\nThe top Democrat on the committee, Senator Jack Reed, asked Correll whether a resumption of US nuclear explosive testing would be destabilising, triggering a global nuclear arms race.
\n\u201cIf confirmed as the commander of STRATCOM, my role would be to provide military advice on any discussions on the way ahead with respect to testing,\u201d Correll said.
\nThe vice admiral, who Trump nominated in early September to lead the US military\u2019s Strategic Command, or STRATCOM, which focuses on nuclear deterrence and strike capabilities, kept answering questions carefully throughout the hearing.
\nAt one point, Senator Angus King, an independent, asked whether Trump\u2019s post could be about testing delivery systems such as missiles rather than explosive testing of nuclear devices.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t have insight into the President\u2019s intent. I agree that could be an interpretation,\u201d Correll said.
\nUS Moratorium
\nUS officials on Thursday did not clarify whether Trump was calling for testing of nuclear weapon delivery systems or ending a 33-year moratorium on explosion tests, which experts said would be disruptive and carry the risk of provoking escalation from rivals, evoking anxious memories of the Cold War.
\nVice President JD Vance said testing was part of ensuring the US nuclear arsenal functions properly.
\nThe US and other nuclear powers have long stopped detonating actual nuclear warheads and instead use advanced computer simulations to maintain the readiness of their arsenals.
\n\u201cThere is no good reason for the United States to resume explosive nuclear testing \u2014 it would actually make everyone in the US less safe,\u201d said Tara Drozdenko, director of the global security program at Union of Concerned Scientists.
\n\u201cThe US has so much to lose and so little to gain from resuming testing,\u201d she said.
\nSending a message to Moscow and Beijing
\nMany analysts said that Trump, who often tries to project strength as a negotiation tactic, likely was seeking to send a message to Moscow and Beijing.
\nIn his social media post issued ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, the president said he had instructed the Pentagon to start testing \u201con an equal basis\u201d and added, \u201cThat process will start immediately.\u201d
\nOnly North Korea has conducted a nuclear test explosion in this century, the last in 2017.
\nRussia, which has tested two new nuclear-powered weapons in recent days, has been accused by Washington of conducting so-called low-yield tests and of lacking transparency in its nuclear program, but has not conducted a full-scale nuclear explosion.
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin had cautioned that if any country tested a nuclear weapon, then Moscow would too, a Kremlin spokesperson said on Thursday.
\nChina has repeatedly rebuffed efforts across US administrations to hold talks on nuclear arms. While Beijing is undertaking efforts to dramatically increase its nuclear weapons stockpiles it has expressed little interest in negotiating with Russia and the US, arguing those countries\u2019 nuclear forces are currently considerably larger.
\n\u201cIf the goal is to generate leverage to force China to negotiate, I think that\u2019s unlikely to work,\u201d said James Acton, co-director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
\nChina hopes the US will abide by its commitment to a moratorium on nuclear testing and obligations under a test ban treaty, Beijing\u2019s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
\nBenefiting US adversaries
\nBreaking the moratorium on US nuclear tests could benefit Washington\u2019s nuclear rivals by allowing them to conduct more tests, said Ploughshares, a foundation focused on reducing nuclear threats.
\nThe United States has conducted the majority of all nuclear test explosions and retains data gathered from its 1,030 tests since 1945.
\nSTRATCOM, where Correll is the current No 2, had just certified the US military\u2019s nuclear arsenal in January.
\n\u201cA return to testing will benefit US adversaries by allowing them to catch up in nuclear research and weapons development,\u201d Ploughshares said in a statement.
\nA source at the Department of Energy, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said any test would take place deep underground at a Nevada site, which is mandated to be ready to conduct tests within 36 months.
\nAt the hearing, Senator Jacky Rosen said her home state of Nevada had suffered from being the site of US nuclear explosive tests from 1951 to 1992, and vowed to prevent Trump from resuming them: \u201cI\u2019m going to be crystal clear: I will not let this happen. Not on my watch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US officials unclear if Trump seeks nuclear weapons delivery system tests or ending 33-year moratorium Washington If US Navy Vice Admiral Richard Correll thought he was going to have an easy confirmation hearing on Thursday to become the commander of America\u2019s nuclear forces, those hopes surely vanished at 9:04pm the night before he was to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-511939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n