{"id":329900,"date":"2026-08-11T06:06:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T06:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=329900"},"modified":"2026-08-13T06:07:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T06:07:33","slug":"pentagon-drafting-new-nuclear-strategy-to-expand-options-for-tactical-nuclear-weapons-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=329900","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon Drafting New Nuclear Strategy To Expand Options for Tactical Nuclear Weapons Use"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave DeCamp \u2013 AntiWar.com Aug 9, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s policy chief, who has long called for the US to prepare to fight a “limited nuclear war”<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIf you actually want extended deterrence to be credible, you have to provide the nation\u2019s political leadership with nuclear capabilities that common sense indicates you could actually use,\u201d a source told NBC<\/em>. \u201cOtherwise you\u2019re reducing our leadership\u2019s options to extreme choices that the adversary won\u2019t find credible.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the potential strategy would be carried out in the name of deterrence and preventing war, arms control advocates have strongly warned against the idea of developing more tactical nuclear weapons to prepare for a potential limited nuclear conflict over concerns that it would make nuclear war much more likely and that any nuclear exchange would likely lead to a global catastrophe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout a firm rejection of the option to use nuclear weapons first in a conflict, by building and fielding more tactical nuclear weapons the administration is signaling its intention to use them against enemy forces and industrial infrastructure in a conflict,\u201d the Arms Control Association said in response to the NBC<\/em> report.<\/a><\/p>\n

The ACA said that it \u201cstrongly opposes the administration\u2019s decision to build more tactical nuclear weapons to supplement the options that exist\u201d and pointed to the fact that the US already has at least two types of tactical nuclear weapons, including B61-12 gravity bombs, which are deployed in Europe, and the W76-2 low-yield warhead for the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missile.<\/p>\n

The ACA said the US Navy is also \u201cacquiring a new nuclear-capable sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) that may be available at the end of the decade for possible use in conflict with China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breaking Defense<\/em> reported<\/a> that Colby announced on August 5 that the Pentagon was reviewing the US nuclear posture and repeatedly emphasized the term \u201coptions\u201d in a speech he delivered that has not been made public.<\/p>\n

Colby has been one of the leading voices in Washington\u2019s policy circles advocating for the US to prepare for limited nuclear war. In a 2015 paper for the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) titled \u201cA Nuclear Strategy and Posture for 2030,\u201d<\/a> Colby said the US \u201cshould make a special effort to develop the platforms and weapons, doctrine, planning capacity, and other capabilities needed to fight a limited nuclear war more effectively than plausible adversaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that the ideal US nuclear force is \u201cone that is not only highly survivable and able to issue a devastating blow against any adversary under any scenario but that is also capable of conducting effective limited nuclear operations in a controlled fashion while maintaining the ability to escalate to full-scale war if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colby made a similar argument in a 2018 piece written in Foreign Affairs<\/em> titled \u201cIf You Want Peace, Prepare for Nuclear War,\u201d<\/a> published just a few months after he left the first Trump administration, where he led the development of the 2018 National Defense Strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWashington\u2019s task is clear. It must demonstrate to Moscow and Beijing that any attempt to use force against US friends and allies would likely fail and would certainly result in costs and risks well out of proportion to whatever they might gain,\u201d Colby wrote. \u201cThis requires conventional military power, but it also means having the right strategy and weapons to fight a limited nuclear war and come out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

If you liked this article, please support Antiwar.com.
\nWe are 100% reader-supported.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The strategy is being overseen by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s policy chief, who has long called for the US to prepare to fight a “limited nuclear war”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=329900"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329911,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329900\/revisions\/329911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}