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The United States does not reserve a first use option because of a possible attack on the United States. That misunderstands where all this came from. It comes from being conventionally outnumbered by the Soviet Union 40 years ago. /2
NATO warned the USSR that conventionally overwhelming us in Europe, which they could do easily, could trigger a nuclear escalation, and eventually a central nuclear exchange. Basically, we said we will do it if we are losing. /3
We did not reserve to ourselves a “just in case“ nuclear option against the Soviet Union. We debated among ourselves how fast we should launch our retaliation if we knew we were under attack. That’s a different question. /4
We never took the position some conservatives seem to be taking now, which is reserving the right to use nukes just because we feel like it. That’s koo-koo pants stuff that we didn’t even do during the Cold War. /5
We never formally adopted “no first use” because we did not want to encourage the Soviets to attack Europe. We are now the conventional a superior power, so it’s a historical hangover that no longer makes any sense. /6
There is no longer any reason to avoid a “no first use“ declaration. Warren is right, her critics are wrong. Here endeth the lesson. /7x
