President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement that the United States will resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time in more than three decades has sent shockwaves through both Washington and world capitals. He argues the move is necessary to ‘keep pace’ with Russia and China, whose programs he claims are active, and to ensure that America\u2019s deterrent remains credible. We will not be outmatched, Trump declared, ordering the Pentagon to ‘immediately’ begin preparations.<\/p>\n
That declaration reverberated across the globe. To some, it signals renewed American strength \u2014 proof that Washington will no longer rely on self-imposed restraints while adversaries modernize unencumbered.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s rationale rests on deterrence. If Russia or China are conducting secret or low-yield tests in violation of international norms, then the U.S., he argues, cannot appear constrained.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
That logic has merit in theory. Yet in practice, there is no publicly verified evidence that Moscow or Beijing have conducted full-scale nuclear explosions in recent years. Both remain bound, at least politically, to the global testing moratorium.<\/p>\n
America, for its part, has maintained a robust and credible deterrent through its Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program \u2014 using advanced supercomputing, materials science and subcritical testing to ensure our arsenal\u2019s reliability without detonating a single weapon since 1992. However, Russia\u2019s 2023 de-ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) signals potential erosion of that restraint.<\/p>\n
In short, our nuclear arsenal works. Our delivery systems are being modernized.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
To understand what is at stake, it helps to recall how we got here. The U.S. conducted its first nuclear test \u2014 the ‘Trinity’ explosion \u2014 on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico. Over the next half-century, America performed more than 1,000 nuclear detonations, first in the atmosphere, later underground and underwater. Each test expanded our understanding of the bomb\u2019s formidable power and devastating potential \u2014 but the environmental and human toll, from the Pacific islands to Nevada, was staggering.<\/p>\n
By the early 1960s, public outrage and the Cuban Missile Crisis convinced world leaders that unrestrained testing endangered humanity itself. The Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 banned explosions in the atmosphere, outer space, and underwater. The final U.S. test occurred on Sept. 23, 1992, after which Washington joined a global moratorium pending ratification of the CTBT \u2014 still unsigned by a few key states, including ours. Nevertheless, the norm held. For 33 years, no nation except North Korea has crossed that line and, perhaps, South Africa, in 1979.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n