ISSUE BRIEF
No. 5343 | MARCH 1, 2024
DOUGLAS AND SARAH ALLISON CENTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
This paper, in its entirety, can be found at https://report.heritage.org/ib5343
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The World Is Becoming Ever More
Dangerous: The President Must
Revitalize the U.S. Strategic Arsenal
Robert Peters and Ryan Tully
Despite ever-increasing global threats,
America is failing to sustain its nuclear
arsenal or prepare for the future. These
failures will have grave consequences.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The President must make rebuilding the
nation’s strategic nuclear deterrent a top
priority, with immediate action in strategy,
personnel, policy, and capabilities.
Only the President can infuse the nuclear
enterprise with the sense of urgency
needed to field a credible deter-
rent in the 2030s.
T
he United States’ ability to deter its adver-
saries from attacking America and its closest
allies and partners is at its lowest level since
the end of the Cold War. China’s and Russia’s nuclear
arsenals are growing unchecked, along with their
ambitions, while America’s pedestrian response
leaves it open to their coercion.
Despite the unambiguous and growing set of
threats, the United States is failing to sustain its
nuclear arsenal or prepare for the future. These fail-
ures will have grave consequences for the U.S.
Any President must make rebuilding the nation’s
strategic nuclear deterrent a top priority, to include
immediate action in the strategy, personnel, policy,
and capabilities arenas.
The stakes could not be higher: The United States
must take the steps necessary to build and field a
