Washington: President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Thursday that the United States should greatly “expand its nuclear capability,” which seemed to indicate an end to years of efforts by presidents of both parties to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in American defenses and strategy.
Trump made the comment in a midafternoon Twitter post, which appears to be in response to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who in a speech to his military’s leadership in Moscow earlier on Thursday vowed to strengthen Russia’s nuclear missiles.
Putin said nuclear forces needed to be bolstered so they could “reliably penetrate any existing and prospective missile defense systems,” in an apparent reference to the Pentagon’s efforts to develop systems capable of shooting down nuclear-armed rockets.
Shortly after Putin’s comments were reported by media, Trump took to Twitter to say that the United States must “strengthen and expand” its nuclear forces “until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”
Jason Miller, the incoming White House communications director, said in the statement that Trump was referring to “the threat of nuclear proliferation and the critical need to prevent it – particularly to and among terrorist organizations and unstable and rogue regimes.”
Miller also said that the president-elect had in the past “emphasized the need to improve and modernize our deterrent capability as a vital way to pursue peace through strength.”