Ten Steps the Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy

The report contends that U.S. nuclear policy is outdated and increases the risk of accidental war or proliferation. It proposes ten unilateral actions, including reducing the arsenal to 1,000 warheads, ending rapid-launch options, and ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, to enhance national and international security.

• The authors argue that current U.S. and Russian nuclear doctrines are outdated, maintaining massive arsenals on 'hair-trigger alert' that increase the risk of accidental, unauthorized, or mistaken attacks.
• The report identifies the greatest current nuclear threats to the U.S. as accidental or unauthorized Russian attacks, the proliferation of nuclear weapons to unstable states, and the acquisition of nuclear materials by terrorists.
• The authors propose that the U.S. should unilaterally reduce its total nuclear arsenal to no more than 1,000 warheads, asserting that a few hundred survivable weapons are sufficient for deterrence.
• The report recommends that the U.S. reject rapid-launch options, such as launch-on-warning, and instead change deployment practices so that forces can only be launched in days rather than minutes to reduce Russian insecurity.
• The authors argue that the U.S. should declare that nuclear weapons are used solely to deter and respond to other nuclear weapons, rejecting the option to use them against conventional, chemical, or biological attacks.
• The report calls for the elimination of preset targeting plans and the renunciation of 'counterforce' targeting, which aims to destroy hardened targets like missile silos, as this encourages adversaries to maintain high alert levels.
• The authors advocate for the immediate retirement and transparent dismantlement of all U.S. nonstrategic nuclear weapons, stating they are no longer necessary for the defense of allies.
• The report argues that the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) and Complex 2030 programs are unnecessary because existing plutonium pits have lifetimes of at least 85 years.
• The authors urge the U.S. to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and commit to not resuming nuclear explosive testing to strengthen the global nonproliferation regime.
• The report recommends halting the deployment of the Ground-Based Missile Defense (GMD) system and dropping space-based plans, as these may provoke Russia and China to expand their arsenals.

APA

Blair, B. G., Cochran, T. B., Dean, J., Fetter, S., Garwin, R. L., Gottfried, K., Gronlund, L., Kelly, H., Kristensen, H. M., Nelson, R., Norris, R. S., Oelrich, I., Paine, C., von Hippel, F. N., Wright, D., & Young, S. (2008). Ten Steps the Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/toward-true-security.pdf

Chicago

Blair, Bruce G., Thomas B. Cochran, Jonathan Dean, Steve Fetter, Richard L. Garwin, Kurt Gottfried, Lisbeth Gronlund, et al. Ten Steps the Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2008. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/toward-true-security.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Blair |first1=Bruce G. |last2=Cochran |first2=Thomas B. |last3=Dean |first3=Jonathan |last4=Fetter |first4=Steve |last5=Garwin |first5=Richard L. |last6=Gottfried |first6=Kurt |last7=Gronlund |first7=Lisbeth |last8=Kelly |first8=Henry |last9=Kristensen |first9=Hans M. |display-authors=etal |title=Ten Steps the Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=February 2008 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/toward-true-security.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{blair2008ten, author = {Blair, Bruce G. and Cochran, Thomas B. and Dean, Jonathan and Fetter, Steve and Garwin, Richard L. and Gottfried, Kurt and Gronlund, Lisbeth and Kelly, Henry and Kristensen, Hans M. and Nelson, Robert and Norris, Robert S. and Oelrich, Ivan and Paine, Christopher and von Hippel, Frank N. and Wright, David and Young, Stephen}, title = {{Ten Steps the Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2008}, month = feb, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/toward-true-security.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }