Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

nuclear arms race was already underway. The British
government as part of its austerity program has
been cutting defense spending while trying to find the
means to maintain its nuclear submarine launched ballistic
missile (SLBM) forces. As an essential element of
the assessment process, the British American Security
Information Council (BASIC) had created the Trident
Commission to provide input on the debate about UK
nuclear weapons policy, specifically, Trident renewal.
The BASIC Trident Commission enjoyed the support
of former senior defense experts from all major British
parties. Its first working paper by Ian Kearns called attention
to the accelerated expenditures of other nuclear
powers. The United States <strong>and</strong> Russia plan to spend
$700 billion <strong>and</strong> $70 billion, respectively, on nuclear
weapons <strong>and</strong> delivery systems over the next decade.
The report also made the key point that some powers,
notably Russia <strong>and</strong> Pakistan, were shifting their nuclear
posture <strong>and</strong> strategy toward weapons <strong>and</strong> delivery
systems that went beyond strategic deterrence <strong>and</strong>
into warfighting. Others, especially the United States,
were pursuing conventional deep-strike strategic systems.
7 Kearns declared that a new nuclear arms race
was already underway: “If anything, the evidence
points to new nuclear arms races <strong>and</strong> a huge amount
of money (hundreds of billions of U.S.$) being spent
over the coming decade.” 8
The Russian news media picked up the report immediately
after its release. One day after the appearance
of press coverage of the BASIC report, the Russian
press was already analyzing the report’s message
to conclude that the world had embarked upon a new
round of the nuclear arms race, with the United States
leading the race because of its planned investment
in such armaments over the next decade. Looking at
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