NEW DELHI -- In the post-Sept. 11 environment, nuclear-weapons issues had acquired a lower profile in international relations as the controversy generated by America's missile-defense plans, the ongoing deadlock at the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament and the coma-like state of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, or CTBT, tapered off. But now nuclear issues appear set to rise to prominence again.
Not only are international concerns growing that terrorists, such as al-Qaeda members, could get hold of radioactive materials and use them lethally in a mix with conventional explosives, but the new U.S. Nuclear Posture Review is also triggering a storm. The NPR as well as China's ambitious nuclear modernization point to a greater, not lesser, role for nuclear weapons in the years ahead.
Approved by the White House, the NPR has already spurred two U.S. initiatives -- the setting up of "advanced warhead concept teams" and a feasibility study into developing an earth-burrowing nuclear warhead. A new intercontinental ballistic missile, submarine-launched ballistic missile, nuclear submarine and heavy bomber -- all armed with novel nuclear warheads -- are planned for deployment between 2020-2040. Employing an innovative concept, "operationally deployed," Washington intends to pursue an illusory arms cut -- reducing its active warheads to 2,200 within 10 years, but keeping the surplus weapons in a way to reactivate them at quick notice.