Scientists and Engineers Letter to President Biden on the Nuclear Posture Review

The document is a formal request from a group of scientists and engineers to President Biden, outlining four primary recommendations for the Nuclear Posture Review to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict and fulfill disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

• The authors urge the United States to adopt a 'no-first-use' pledge, declaring that nuclear weapons would only be used in response to a nuclear attack on the US or its allies to reduce the likelihood of escalation.
• The letter recommends modifying the presidential authority for nuclear weapons use to require concurrence from one or more officials, serving as a safeguard against unstable or reckless leadership.
• The signatories propose reducing the number of deployed strategic nuclear weapons to fewer than 1,000 missile warheads and bombers to slow the arms race with Russia and China.
• The authors call for the cancellation of the program to replace Minuteman III (MMIII) ICBMs with Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) missiles, suggesting life-extension instead to avoid a $100 billion commitment to long-term arsenal maintenance.
• The letter suggests the total elimination of silo-based ICBMs because their vulnerability to attack creates pressure for rapid launch decisions and increases the risk of mistaken launches, noting that submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) provide equivalent military capability.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2021). Scientists and Engineers Letter to President Biden on the Nuclear Posture Review. https://ucs-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/global-security/letter-POTUS-NPR-dated-12-16-21.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Scientists and Engineers Letter to President Biden on the Nuclear Posture Review. 2021. https://ucs-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/global-security/letter-POTUS-NPR-dated-12-16-21.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Scientists and Engineers Letter to President Biden on the Nuclear Posture Review |date=16 December 2021 |url=https://ucs-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/global-security/letter-POTUS-NPR-dated-12-16-21.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{unionofconcernedscientists2021scientists, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Scientists and Engineers Letter to President Biden on the Nuclear Posture Review}}, publisher = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2021}, month = dec, url = {https://ucs-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/global-security/letter-POTUS-NPR-dated-12-16-21.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }