The announcement earlier this month that the US will pursue the design and construction of new nuclear weapons has not been warmly embraced by the rest of the world. In fact, most people outside the country view the move as evidence of a policy favouring unilateralism and the pursuit of absolute military superiority, according to a report released March 21 on global perceptions of US nuclear policy.

The report, commissioned by the Pentagon’s Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), used focus groups and written and oral interviews with participants in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America to assess international feelings toward the plan. It found that China and Russia, in particular, are watching the scope of US missile deployments with concern that US might be attempting to move away from a deterrence posture through more effective defences.

Under the new Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) programme, older nuclear warheads currently maintained under the Stockpile Stewardship Programme will be replaced by simpler weapons meant to be more reliable, easier to manufacture and more robust than current models. They would be ready for production by 2012.

The decision to upgrade the US nuclear arsenal is being opposed by some members of the Congress, who believe it sends a message that Washington is pursuing first strike capabilities instead of a policy of détente and arms reduction, as was the case during the Cold War. The Union of Concerned Scientists says that the plan to update the nuclear arsenal is unnecessary because the current arsenal’s reliability is not degrading. Changing the design of nuclear warheads is expensive and dangerous, the group argues, and political pressure within the US could lead to the testing of new nuclear weapons before they replace existing weapons. The new warheads are based on a design that was detonated in tests during the 1980s.

Although part of the Bush administration’s rationale for the RRW is a need to have a more flexible arsenal to engage and deter so-called “rogue states”, such as North Korea and Iran, the report concludes that Russia and China’s future decisions about their nuclear arsenals will be dependent on “their perceptions of US strategic intent, plans, and commitments.” The departure from a policy of nuclear deterrence has also caused concern in Japan and Turkey, where US commitments of extended deterrence are seen as essential security guarantees. The new policies have led both countries to question the credibility of a US nuclear guarantee, says the report.

The US Senate has not ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which bars nuclear weapons tests, and some fear that the Bush administration’s plan to develop new nuclear weapons could seriously undermine the possibility of its ratification.

There are no current plans to test the new weapons, but the development of new warheads does make some countries doubt the US and other nuclear weapons powers’ commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which includes disarmament obli-gations. “Rather than building new nuclear weapons, the US should be looking for ways to reduce its reliance on them,” said Dr Robert Nelson, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, USA. — IPS