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President Donald Trump reaffirmed on Saturday that the US would resume nuclear testing, but he did not answer directly when asked whether that would include underground nuclear tests that were common during the Cold War.
“You’ll find out very soon, but we’re going to do some testing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Palm Beach, Florida, when asked about underground nuclear tests.
“Other countries do it. If they’re going to do it, we’re going to do it, OK?” These words, laden with geopolitical implications, hint at a potential shift in policy or practice.
Trump made that surprise announcement on social media while aboard his Marine One helicopter flying to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for a trade-negotiating session in Busan, South Korea.
However, the specifics of what was being referenced remain ambiguous. Was there an allusion to nuclear-explosive testing, an operation typically under the purview of the National Nuclear Security Administration? Or was this a nod toward the flight testing of nuclear-capable missiles? The lack of clarity leaves room for interpretation and raises questions about future actions.
During a trip to Malaysia, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said resuming testing was a “very responsible way” to maintain nuclear deterrence, adding that the Pentagon would work with the Department of Energy.
“We’re moving out quickly,” Hegseth said.
No nuclear power — other than North Korea most recently in 2017 — has carried out explosive nuclear testing in over 25 years.
Representative Dina Titus, a Democrat from Nevada, the location of the US nuclear test site, introduced legislation on Friday that would prohibit a resumption of explosive nuclear tests and block funds for them.
Titus, the author of a history of US nuclear testing, said that a resumption of such tests would prompt Russia and China to do the same and put “Nevadans back in the crosshairs of toxic radiation and environmental destruction.”
