A one-page Department of Defense fact sheet issued this week appeared to confirm that President Joe Biden would not declare a no-first use of nuclear weapons policy.
“As long as nuclear weapons exist, the fundamental role of U.S. nuclear weapons is to deter nuclear attack on the United States, our allies, and partners,” reads the one-pager, titled Fact Sheet: 2022 Nuclear Posture Review and Missile Defense Review. “The United States would only consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners.”
The Biden administration had yet to publish its highly anticipated nuclear posture review in full as of Wednesday evening. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Biden planned to abandon the concept of no-first-use of nuclear weapons, which he endorsed as a candidate for president in 2020 in an essay published in Foreign Affairs.
Arms control advocates who supported Biden’s candidacy and called for him to deliver a no-first-use policy after inauguration day lamented this week’s one-page teaser of the nuclear posture review, with one of them declaring the still-undelivered posture review “a failure.”
