Tailors 2014 strategy to 2023 issues, mainly Russia and China.
The Department of Defense released its updated Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) last month, shifting its primary focus from North Korea and Iran to China and Russia.
When the strategy was created in 2014, North Korea was developing nuclear weapons and Iran was trying to obtain the materials necessary to create some of its own. Now, Russia’s aggression has brought its substantial nuclear arsenal forward in conversations, and China’s loose compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention also raises concerns.
“The defining WMD threats we faced [in 2014] were drastically different than they are today, just 10 years later,” said Assistant Secretary John Plumb, who spoke at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He said, “The challenges posed by China and Russia are front and center. So this is a new security environment and that demanded a new strategy.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Assistant Secretary Plumb as he oversees the Office of Space Policy.
- For Secretary Austin and Pentagon officials as they update strategies surrounding nuclear weapons.
Sources: Department of Defense
