{"id":2800,"date":"2026-06-25T21:40:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T21:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=2800"},"modified":"2026-06-25T21:40:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T21:40:33","slug":"u-s-urgently-rebuilding-deterrence-amid-growing-dual-nuclear-threats-from-china-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=2800","title":{"rendered":"U.S. urgently rebuilding deterrence amid growing dual nuclear threats from China, Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Energy Department is urgently working to strengthen U.S. nuclear weapons capabilities as dual threats from China and Russia mount, according to the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.<\/p>\n

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Brandon Williams, a former nuclear missile submariner and current NNSA administrator, also said in public remarks that he favors his agency\u2019s efforts to build low-yield nuclear warheads and is ready to resume underground nuclear tests if President Trump orders the blasts.<\/p>\n

On China, Mr. Williams told a recent conference at the Hudson Institute that the Chinese military is moving rapidly to build up both nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is urgently producing weapons and rapidly expanding its nuclear weapons enterprise,\u201d he said in little-noticed but significant comments June 18. \u201cThere is only one intent to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expansion includes hundreds of silos for new land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles in the western Chinese desert, and testing and deploying new submarine-launched ballistic missiles, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are rapidly expanding all of that capability,\u201d Mr. Williams said. \u201cAnd guess what the Chinese do well? Manufacturing. And guess what they are manufacturing? They are manufacturing nuclear weapons at an extraordinary pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

China\u2019s warhead stockpile grew from around 250 warheads several years ago to more than 600 warheads today and is projected to increase to around 1,500 warheads in the coming years with no plans by Beijing to join arms reduction talks or to disclose when the expansion will end.<\/p>\n

Mr. Williams warned that the ability of the U.S. to deter a nuclear conflict is being strained by the rapid expansion of strategic forces by both China and Russia.<\/p>\n

The problem is similar to the physics idea called the \u201cthree-body problem,\u201d he said, where three bodies of relatively equal mass in a gravitational orbit produce chaos.<\/p>\n

Past strategic deterrence was more stable based on the principle of mutually assured nuclear destruction between the United States and the Soviet Union and later Russia.<\/p>\n

The addition of significant Chinese nuclear threats requires more weapons and added targeting by U.S. forces to deter an attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it has to be that way but that is why we have so much urgency today,\u201d Mr. Williams said.<\/p>\n

American nuclear forces are undergoing a multibillion-dollar modernization to replace obsolete systems with new land-based missiles, new missile submarines and new strategic bombers.<\/p>\n

The new Sentinel ICBM to replace aging Minuteman III missiles and the Columbia-class nuclear missile submarine programs are behind schedule and over budget. The B-21 strategic bomber is largely on schedule and within budget with the first bomber set for delivery next year.<\/p>\n

Mr. Williams, who traveled to Beijing\u2019s Tiananmen Square in 1989, a month before Chinese military forces massacred hundreds and perhaps thousands of unarmed pro-democracy protesters, warned against underestimating the country\u2019s communist rulers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no illusions about the Chinese Communist Party and you shouldn\u2019t either,\u201d he said, noting that after the experience he studied nuclear deterrence at Harvard and later joined the Navy\u2019s nuclear program. He eventually served on six strategic submarine patrols aboard an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine armed with Trident nuclear missiles.<\/p>\n

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The Russian nuclear threat also is growing and includes recent threats by Moscow to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Moscow is also developing novel strategic weapons, such as a megaton-class nuclear-tipped underwater drone called Poseidon and a nuclear-powered, nuclear-tipped cruise missile called Skyfall, he said.<\/p>\n

Iran also was covertly seeking to becomie a nuclear weapons power before U.S. and Israel military action, Mr. Williams said.<\/p>\n

Tehran until recently was engaged in a large-scale program similar to the U.S., World War II-era Manhattan Project to build a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n

The Iranian project included thousands of technicians and large-scale uranium enrichment, he said.<\/p>\n

North Korea also is expanding uranium enrichment in a bid to expand its nuclear weapons program, Mr. Williams said.<\/p>\n

The new U.S. nuclear deterrent strategy is distinct from the Cold War-era mutual destruction plan. Instead, nuclear arms are being used to dissuade adversaries from any actions that could escalate into a nuclear conflict and to prevent the first use of a nuclear weapon during a war or crisis, Mr. Williams said.<\/p>\n

Statements and behavior by China and Russia suggest both militaries believe they could use a small handful of theater or tactical nuclear weapons to try and intimidate the United States.<\/p>\n

That threat is \u201chugely destabilizing\u201d and therefore U.S. forces should be equipped with smaller, low-yield nuclear weapons to \u201cmeet them in an equal way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current congressional authorization legislation will provide funding to support for a low-yield sea-launched nuclear cruise missile.<\/p>\n

The NNSA administrator outlined two possible small-scale nuclear attacks by Russia and China. Moscow could conduct a theater nuclear strike on Ukrainian troops that occupied Russia\u2019s Kursk region, and a Chinese tactical nuclear strike could be carried out against Japan, Mr. Williams said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe they would target a Japanese frigate out in the sea. No TV cameras. No burning building. No moms holding babies like you\u2019ve seen with the Hiroshima footage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yet they\u2019ve made a declaration that they\u2019re willing to use and cross the nuclear threshold,\u201d he said of the Chinese.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould we evacuate Guam? Would we abandon the first island chain. Would we walk away from any perceived commitments we have to Taiwan? What would we do if they crossed that threshold? That, to me, is the greatest danger,\u201d Mr. Williams said.<\/p>\n

Read more Rubio looks to shore up support among Gulf allies as Iran threatens ships in Strait of Hormuz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Energy Department is urgently working to strengthen U.S. nuclear weapons capabilities as dual threats from China and Russia mount, according to the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-security"],"yoast_head":"\nU.S. urgently rebuilding deterrence amid growing dual nuclear threats from China, Russia - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=2800\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. urgently rebuilding deterrence amid growing dual nuclear threats from China, Russia - 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