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President Joe Biden approved a classified document in March directing U.S. forces to get ready for potential "coordinated nuclear confrontations involving Russia, China and North Korea,” the New York Times (NYT) reported Tuesday.
The document, which is revised approximately every four years, is classified to such a degree that there are no electronic versions available. Only a limited number of hard copies have been distributed to select national security officials and Pentagon leaders, the newspaper reported.
The newspaper added, however, that in recent speeches, two senior administration officials were allowed to allude to the change before a more comprehensive and unclassified update to Congress that is anticipated before Biden's term concludes.
The Pentagon believes that China’s nuclear arsenal will rival the size and diversity of U.S. and Russian stockpiles over the next decade, NYT reported.
“The president recently released updated guidance for nuclear weapons employment to address the presence of multiple nuclear-armed adversaries,” the newspaper cited Vipin Narang, a nuclear strategist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who previously worked at the Pentagon, as saying earlier this month before returning to academia.
He further noted that this guidance specifically considers “the significant increase in the size and diversity” of China’s nuclear arsenal, it added.
In June, the National Security Council’s senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, Pranay Vaddi, said Biden "recently issued updated nuclear weapons employment guidance, which takes into account the realities of a new nuclear era."
"It emphasizes the need to account for the growth and diversity of the PRC’s nuclear arsenal and the need to deter Russia, the PRC and North Korea simultaneously," he added, referring to the People’s Republic of China, China’s official name.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett told Anadolu that the U.S. nuclear policy is updated regularly as part of their efforts to "reduce nuclear risks and maintain stable deterrence.”
"This administration – like the four administrations before it – issued a Nuclear Posture Review and Nuclear Weapons Employment Planning Guidance. While the specific text of the Guidance is classified, its existence is in no way secret. The Guidance issued earlier this year is not a response to any single entity, country or threat," he added.
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