Biden’s Nuclear Strategy Is About Living With a Dangerous World

Last month, as part of the new National Defense Strategy and amid Russia’s ongoing attempts at nuclear intimidation in Ukraine, the Biden administration released the public version of its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). Each U.S. president since Bill Clinton has conducted an NPR early in his first term, as a statement of policy on why the United States has nuclear weapons, when and how it would consider using them, and which weapons it will need in future. Most of the time they go almost unnoticed by anyone outside the world of nuclear wonks—but with Russia brandishing nuclear weapons as it loses ground in Ukraine and tensions high with China, it’s worth paying attention to where the United States stands. Here are five takeaways from the 25-page NPR....