Nuclear security

The Democrats Bomb Their Nuclear Test

...It is helpful to briefly review the history of Nuclear Posture Reviews. The United States has conducted three reviews — one each at the beginning of the Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama administrations. A lot of people have gotten the idea that the Nuclear Posture Review, like the Quadrennial Defense Review, is something that new presidents are obligated to undertake. This is wrong.

The first Nuclear Posture Review occurred at the beginning of Bill Clinton’s administration. Then-Gov. Clinton had campaigned on the idea of spending the “peace dividend” on domestic programs, so one of the first things Secretary of Defense Les Aspin did was undertake a “bottom-up review” of U.S. defense requirements to guide the post-Cold War downsizing of the military. Alongside that process, the Clinton administration also conducted a Nuclear Posture Review.