Get real on nuclear deterrence
President Obama proposes to deal with the proliferating threat of nuclear weapons and associated ballistic missiles by savaging the nuclear deterrent force and missile defenses that keep us safe. If actually implemented, his proposals will contribute to a more dangerous planet and a less secure America.
Mr. Obama’s ideas are a throwback to a world that no longer exists – one in which there were two nuclear superpowers who believed that bilateral agreements on offensive forces and missile defenses were necessary to manage their relations and prevent Armageddon. Today, Russia is no superpower, although it is keen to parlay the vestiges of its once-vast nuclear arsenal into restored international prestige and power. The real danger is emerging from actual or incipient nuclear-armed rogue states like North Korea and Iran, an unstable Pakistan and a militaristic China.
Far from discouraging proliferation, gutting our strategic forces in a new treaty with the Kremlin will increase that phenomenon. Our severe reductions will only embolden China and other prospective foes to build-up. Meanwhile, allies who have heretofore relied on our nuclear “umbrella” will lose confidence in us and go nuclear themselves.
Particularly insidious is President Obama’s call for the Senate to ratify the discredited, unverifiable and previously rejected Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The practical effect would be lopsidedly against American interests: Permanently untested, the U.S. arsenal will inevitably become obsolete, unsafe and unsustainable. But, thanks to the likes of Pakistan’s A.Q. Khan and his ‘Nukes-r-Us’ operation, those with cash can acquire crude, but functional – and previously tested – atomic weapons. Others can confidently get away with testing covertly.
Cold War-era “old think” that would impose new limitations on U.S. and Russian anti-ballistic missile defenses is similarly not just ill-advised. It is reckless at a time when countries like North Korea and Iran are acquiring missiles capable of delivering devastating electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) or other nuclear attacks against this country.
America needs an informed and rigorous national debate before adopting defense budget cuts and arms control initiatives that reflect nostalgia for a world now gone –but that risk blowing up the one we now inhabit.
Published in USA Today
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. is President of the Center for Security Policy in Washington. He was responsible for nuclear weapons policy in the Reagan Defense Department.
Mr. Gaffney is the host of Secure Freedom Radio, a nationally-syndicated radio program heard weeknights throughout the country. He is an associate author of highly acclaimed Shariah: The Threat to America and the publisher of over a dozen other books and monographs from the Center for Security Policy Press.
In April 1987, Mr. Gaffney was nominated by President Reagan to become the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, the senior position in the Defense Department with responsibility for policies involving U.S.-USSR relations, nuclear forces, arms control, missile defense policy and U.S.-European defense ties. He acted in that capacity for seven months during which time, he was the Chairman of the prestigious High Level Group, NATO’s senior politico-military committee. He also represented the Secretary of Defense in key U.S.-Soviet negotiations and ministerial meetings.
From August 1983 until November 1987, Mr. Gaffney was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy under Assistant Secretary Richard Perle.
From February 1981 to August 1983, Mr. Gaffney was a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by the late Senator John Tower (R-Texas). And, in the latter 1970’s, Mr. Gaffney served as an aide to the late Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson (D-Washington) in the areas of defense and foreign policy.
Mr. Gaffney holds a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Mr. Gaffney’s leadership has been recognized by numerous organizations including: the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award (1987), the U.S. Business and Industry Council’s Defender of the National Interest Award (1994), the Navy League of the United States’ Alfred Thayer Mahan Literary Achievement Award (1999), and the Zionist Organization of America’s “Louis Brandeis Award” (2003), the Western Conservative Summit’s Stephen H. Long Award (2015), the Council for National Policy’s George Washington Military Leadership Award (2016) and the IMPACT Award from Ginni Thomas and United in Purpose (2017).
Mr. Gaffney was born in 1953 and resides in the Washington, D.C. area.
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