US News

Obama alters US nuclear strategy with focus on deterrence

Apr 6, 2010, 17:36 GMT

US President Barack Obama delivers remarks at an Easter Prayer Breakfast in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC USA, 06 April 2010. EPA/SHAWN THEW

   Washington - The United States pledged never to use nuclear weapons against states that comply with non-proliferation treaties as part of a much-anticipated review of nuclear arms strategy released Tuesday by President Barack Obama's administration.

But the new pledge - a first for the US - leaves open a nuclear strike against countries that have signed on to a global non- proliferation treaty but stand accused of violating its terms.

Obama, in an interview with The New York Times, said outright that the loophole would apply to 'outliers like Iran and North Korea.'

The Nuclear Posture Review clarified the purpose of remaining US nuclear weapons as fundamentally for deterrence. It announced major cuts to the United States' nuclear arsenal and renounced the development of any new nuclear weapons.

Yet existing weapons can still be modernized, while the US reserved the right to strike first with a nuclear attack, a controversial principle that some left-leaning politicians and disarmament advocates had called for Obama to abandon.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, in releasing the review, called it 'a balanced and comprehensive approach to dealing with the role of nuclear weapons.'

The White House has also been mulling whether to begin withdrawing tactical nuclear warheads based in European countries. Russia has long called for their removal, but Obama told the Times he wanted to discuss the possibility with NATO allies.

   The Nuclear Posture Review is required by Congress to be completed once by every US administration and was being watched closely after Obama last year in Prague laid out his vision of a nuclear-free world, a goal that helped win him the Nobel Peace Prize.

Much of the Obama's review marks a shift from president George W Bush's last posture review in 2002. It explicitly rules out using nuclear weapons against states that are complying with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Instead, countries that would attack the US with chemical or biological weapons 'would face the prospect of a devastating conventional military response,' Gates said. He added that the US reserved the right to change this stance in the future.

The review was issued one day before Obama heads to Prague to sign a new nuclear-arms-reduction treaty with Russia. The New START Treaty already calls on both sides to reduce their nuclear warheads to 1,550, or about one-third below current levels.

   Obama is also preparing to host about 40 world leaders next week in Washington for a two-day summit on safeguarding nuclear material used in weapons and other fields. A separate United Nations summit in May is to review the global nuclear non-proliferation pact.