FAS Urges White House to exclude Nuclear Weapons From National Security Strategy in War on Terrorism - Federation of American Scientists

FAS Urges White House to exclude Nuclear Weapons From National Security Strategy in War on Terrorism - Federation of American Scientists: "Thursday, March 16, 2006 [Washington, DC - March 16] -- Strategic Security Experts Available for Interviews -- The new “National Security Strategy for the United States” published yesterday by the White House strengthens the role of nuclear weapons in preemptive military strikes against terrorists and hostile states armed with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. In stronger language than used in the previous strategy from 2002, the new strategy speaks more directly about the importance of nuclear weapons and lumps them together with other military action in a preemption scenario. 'The National Security Strategy was the Bush administration's last opportunity to demonstrate that it has reduced the role of nuclear weapons after the Cold War,' said Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). 'Instead it has chosen to reaffirm their importance and in the most troubling way possible: preemption.' Under the headline 'The Need for Action,' the new National Security Strategy says: ' Safe, credible, and reliable nuclear forces continue to play a critical role. We are strengthening deterrence by developing a New Triad composed of offensive strike systems (both nuclear"