Little place for arms control in Trump's nuclear strategy

There's a place for arms control in the Trump administration's new nuclear strategy, but it's a very small place.

There's a place for arms control in the Trump administration's new nuclear strategy, but it's a very small place. (Photo | Associated Press)

WASHINGTON: There's a place for arms control in the Trump administration's new nuclear strategy, but it's a very small place.

A 74-page summary of the strategy says new advances in arms control are "difficult to envision." It notes that such agreements can foster cooperation and confidence among nuclear weapons states and reduce the risk of miscalculation that could lead to war, but it also accuses Russia of undermining those aims by violating numerous treaties.

The new US posture focuses heavily on what the administration sees as an overdue modernization of the nuclear arsenal.

But its diminution of arms control as a central part of the nuclear strategy may be just as striking. That probably will arise at a House hearing Tuesday featuring Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

In this Feb. 2, 2018, photo, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, left, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, and Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, lead a news conference on the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, at the Pentagon.