Scientists to Biden: Cut Nuclear Arsenal by a Third and Declare US Won't Use Nukes in Conflict First

This comes as the publication of the Nuclear Posture Review – a document each new president usually presents in the first two years of their term – is expected early next year.

About 700 scientists and engineers, 21 Nobel laureates among them, wrote an open letter to US President Joe Biden on Thursday asking him to cut the US nuclear arsenal by a third and to declare that the country would never use nuclear weapons in a conflict first.

The letter also calls on the president to change the American practice that gives the commander in chief sole authority to order the use of nuclear weapons. Biden has been urged to add “an important safeguard against a possible future president who is unstable or who orders a reckless attack.”

The authors of the letter (most of whom are members of the National Academy of Sciences and the Union of Concerned Scientists) believe that “by making clear that the United States will never start a nuclear war, it reduces the likelihood that a conflict or crisis will escalate to nuclear war.”

Like each US president usually does in the first year or two of his term, Biden is expected to unveil his nuclear strategy early next year.