Congressional Report Demands Massive Military Buildup, and Nuclear Preparation for War with Russia and China

Oct. 14, 2023, (EIRNS)—The 145 page report, titled “America’s Strategic Posture: The Final Report of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States,” calls for a “nuclear weapons modernization program,” in order to prepare for possible simultaneous wars with China and Russia, according to a Global Times editorial. The article adds:

“Notably, the report diverges completely from the current U.S. national security strategy of winning one conflict while deterring another, and from the Biden administration’s current nuclear policy. It is not a fantasy among the American public, but a serious strategic assessment and recommendation in the service of policymaking.”

The 12-member panel that wrote the report was “hand-picked by the U.S. Congress from major think tanks and retired defense, security officials and former lawmakers,” they write, adding that the “report makes us feel that a ‘strategic nightmare’ is sneaking into the U.S. political agenda, but has not drawn due concern and vigilance in Washington, and to a large extent, the American elite group represented by the panel is actively working to make this nightmare come true.”

The panel’s vice chair, former Sen. Jon Kyl, said that the U.S. requires huge defense spending increases, and both the White House and Congress need to tell the U.S. people that higher defense spending is a small price to pay “to hopefully preclude” a possible nuclear war involving the U.S., China and Russia. U.S. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the statement on the “Final Report of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States.” The Chairman of the committee is Madelyn Creedon, a former Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) within the Department of Energy, and positions at the DOD.

Global Times says that the report “will send shivers down the spine of those who retain any basic rationality.” They report that it calls for warheads, bombers, cruise missiles, ballistic missile submarines, non-strategic nuclear weapons and more. The editorial concludes:

“Even promoting a nuclear arms race under the banner of ‘deterrence’ is a disastrous step backward in history. Washington’s political elites, who lived through the Cold War, cannot be unaware of this. However, the fact that such an absurd and off-key report is being presented in all seriousness by the U.S. Congress is both surreal and unsurprising. It is in line with the distorted political atmosphere in Washington today.”

This statement on the report issued by Sen. Jim Risch and Rep. Michael McCaul makes it clear:

“As the commission highlights, Russia and China are pursuing destabilizing and aggressive nuclear modernization plans. Russia continues to violate its longstanding arms control and non-proliferation treaties and commitments while China refuses to even engage in talks on nuclear weapons despite its massive breakout in capabilities. The global security landscape has changed dramatically and it is no longer sufficient for the United States to just fund the Obama-era nuclear modernization plan—we must urgently consider additional adjustments to our own nuclear posture if we are to sustain deterrence against two nuclear peers. Failure to do this will leave us unable to deter and defend against these threats, as well as the threat of nuclear escalation from Iran and North Korea.”

A scan of the document’s Preface indicates some preliminary blood-curdling claims by this team of war-mad neocons:

“[M]ilitarily troubling and increasingly aggressive behaviors of Russia and China over the past decade....”

“As a result of China’s and Russia’s growing competition with the United States and its Allies and partners, and the increasing risk of military conflict with one or both, as well as concerns about whether the United States would be prepared to deter two nuclear peers, Congress determined it was time for a new look at U.S. strategic policy, strategy, and force structure.”

“The new global environment is fundamentally different than anything experienced in the past, even in the darkest days of the Cold War. Today the United States is on the cusp of having not one, but two nuclear peer adversaries, each with ambitions to change the international status quo, by force, if necessary: a situation which the United States did not anticipate and for which it is not prepared. While the risk of a major nuclear conflict remains low, the risk of military conflict with either or both Russia and China, while not inevitable, has grown, and with it the risk of nuclear use, possibly against the U.S. homeland.”

“National leaders must communicate to U.S. citizens the benefits and importance of U.S. global leadership.”

“We were clear, however, that the nuclear force modernization POR is absolutely essential, although not sufficient to meet the new threats posed by Russia and China.”