White House Guidance Created New Nuclear Strike Plans Against Proliferators, Document Shows
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The 2001 Nuclear Posture Review and White House guidance issued in response to the terrorist attacks against the United States in September 2001 led to the creation of new nuclear strike plans against regional states seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction, according to a military planning document obtained by the Federation of American Scientists. Rumors about such plans have existed for years, but the document is the first authoritative evidence that fear of weapons of mass destruction attacks from outside Russia and China caused the Bush administration to broaden U.S. nuclear targeting policy by ordering the military to prepare for nuclear strikes against regional proliferators. The new strike options are a surprise because they were incorporated into the main U.S. nuclear war plan rather than attached as supporting options to regional war plans. The heavily redacted document, which was released after four years of declassification review under the Freedom of Information Act, shows that U.S. Strategic Command responded to nuclear weapons planning guidance issued by the White House shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, by adding a series of scenario-driven nuclear strike options against regional states to the main U.S. strategic nuclear war plan that entered into effect in March 2003. Illustrations in the document identify the states as North Korea and Libya as well as SCUD-equipped countries that appear to include Iran, Iraq (at the time), and Syria - the very countries mentioned in the Nuclear Posture Review. The addition of new strike options directed against regional states contradicts statements by government officials who have insisted that the Nuclear Posture Review decreased the role of nuclear weapons. For copy of the document and additional information, visit http://fas.org/blog/ssp/
