The Telegraph, Influential advisers at the Pentagon are backing the development of a new generation of low-yield nuclear weapons – so-called mini-nukes – in a controversial report to be published before the end of the year.
The document, Future Strategic Strike Force, has been produced by the Defence Science Board, which has a Pentagon brief to “transform the nation's armed forces to meet the demands placed on them by a changing world order”.
The board's findings envisage a revamped nuclear arsenal made up of small-scale missiles whose explosive impact would be easier to control and could be aimed at smaller aggressive states.
The most radical part of the report argues for a move away from the Cold War view of nuclear arms as catastrophic weapons of last resort.
The document is believed to have the strong backing of the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, who last week, in a leaked Pentagon memo, called for a “bolder” approach to national security. A month ago the Senate eased restrictions on nuclear tests at the military's Nevada site, where no new test has taken place since 1992.
Pentagon officials say it is the logical development of the Pentagon's nuclear posture review last year, which advocated a renewed role for nuclear weapons in US strategy.
The report, which has been leaked to a specialist defence magazine, proposes steps to make US nuclear weapons “relevant to the threat environment” in the era of the “war on terror”.
Among the weapons proposed are an enhanced neutron bomb, capable of destroying deeply buried biological weapons caches, and nuclear bunker busters.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, has told US diplomats that developing new weapons could encourage other countries to violate the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
“This is extremely serious,” said Arjun Makhijani, president of the Washington-based Institute of Energy and Environmental Research. “The appeal to deterrence is a smokescreen. The desire is to develop nuclear weapons that can actually be used. The United States is in danger of being at the leading edge of proliferation.
