The Pentagon wants to re-examine its nuclear arsenal and develop a new type of weapon with limited capability, raising fears among experts to revive nuclear proliferation and a greater risk of atomic conflict.
The poll, which is scheduled to be published by the Pentagon in February, is to be held in a preliminary version of the "Nuclear Posture Review". It involves a break with the vision of former President Barack Obama, who called in 2009 in Prague to remove all nuclear weapons.
The United States should link its nuclear arsenal to a "realistic assessment" of the threats it faces, especially from North Korea, Russia or China, the Pentagon said.
"Threats have been seriously aggravated," US Defense Secretary James Mattis said in a preface to the draft document, which was published by the Huffington Post, the first to publish a copy. "The United States faces an environment where the nuclear threat is more diverse and more advanced than ever," he said.
The US Department of Defense therefore proposes to develop a new type of nuclear weapon with limited capabilities, especially tactical weapons, sometimes referred to as "mini-nuclear weapons."
He says nuclear weapons are less powerful and more likely to reduce the "false conviction" of US enemies that Washington will never use its conventional, superfluous and destructive nuclear weapons.
The report said the defense ministry and the federal agency for nuclear security should develop a ballistic missile, stressing that the weapon would provide a "rapid response option capable of penetrating enemy defenses."
In an AFP call, the Pentagon declined to comment on the document, saying it was "ahead of a decision" that the White House had not yet taken. The final version will be issued on 2 February.
Barry Bleichman, co-founder of the Stimson Center for Nuclear Research, said the document represented a decline compared to previous administrations trying to reduce the risk of a nuclear dispute.
"The proponents of nuclear proliferation assert that in order to obtain a real deterrent, the United States must adapt to the arsenal of the enemy, in arms and force," Belshman told AFP. "This view is not based on a valid basis, but is largely shared by the people who are appointed to government positions by President Donald Trump.
Shortly after his election as president, Trump called in December 2016 to "strengthen and expand" the country's nuclear capabilities "significantly" and asked for a new nuclear policy days after he entered the White House in early 2017.
The report stresses that the development of weak weapons is not intended to facilitate the use of nuclear weapons. "It is important to maintain credible deterrence against regional aggression, to expand the flexibility of our nuclear options now to add weak weapons," he said.
However, the document reduces the threshold for the use of an atomic bomb and, in particular, mentions a broad electronic attack.
Barry Blischmann said it would violate the spirit of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) while Washington tried to persuade Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear programs. "This will encourage those who assert in other countries that nuclear peace is necessary for security," he said.
The Pentagon document stresses that United States compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty "remains strong." "The current environment makes any progress in the area of nuclear weapons reductions very difficult in the short term," she said.