The Pentagon's new nuclear policy will stockpile smaller weapons that are easier to use

The mushroom cloud from Ivy Mike (codename given to the test) rises above the Pacific Ocean over the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands on November 1, 1952
(Image credit: Handout/The Associated Press)

The Department of Defense on Friday revealed a new strategy for American nuclear policy focused on building up smaller nuclear weapons that are easier to use.

The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is an effort to "look reality in the eye," said Defense Secretary James Mattis, and "see the world as it is, not as we wish it to be." The announcement included swipes at former President Obama's policy of nuclear reduction, which Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said has happened while "every one of our potential nuclear adversaries has been pursuing the exact opposite strategy."

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.