In a speech earlier this month, senior National Security Council official Pranay Vaddi acknowledged a new, uncomfortable reality: For the first time ever, the United States must deter two nuclear peer adversaries.
“The president recently issued updated nuclear weapons employment guidance, which takes into account the realities of a new nuclear era,” Vaddi told the Arms Control Association in a speech on June 7.
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, and the director of its Keystone Defense Initiative. She served on the 2023 bipartisan U.S. Strategic Posture Commission.
