Follow us on social

Nuclear explosion

Why aren't Harris and Trump talking about nuclear weapons?

The threat is real and at times the call is coming from inside our own house

Analysis | Global Crises

The stakes in any U.S. elections are high, but when it comes to nuclear weapons, they are existential.

American voters deserve to know how their future policymakers and practitioners would address threats posed by the world's deadliest weapons. The United States possesses more nuclear weapons than any country except Russia. The cost of maintaining and modernizing this colossal nuclear arsenal has been estimated to be a massive $756 billion over the next decade, and this estimate grows by millions yearly.

Experts have asked many questions related to the presidential candidates' nuclear policies, and how they plan to deal with external threats; all these questions remain unanswered. When it comes to nuclear weapons, however, the American public's security has always been threatened, more immediately by the development, maintenance, testing, and modernization of the country's own nuclear weapons.

The reality is that U.S. nuclear weapons have harmed American communities throughout history and the question is whether the main two political presidential platforms have acknowledged and addressed these issues and what measures would either of the candidates take to put an end to these threats and fulfill the United States' long-standing commitment to nuclear disarmament.

The American nuclear enterprise: A legacy of harm

The story of U.S. nuclear weapons harm to American people begins with uranium mining. Starting in the early 20th century, much of this took place on Navajo land, and continued for decades, leaving a toxic legacy that continues to affect the health of Indigenous communities to date. Thousands of abandoned uranium mines remain scattered across the American West, continuously leaching radiation into the soil and water, and causing devastating health effects like cancer and kidney disease for those living nearby.

Nuclear testing accounts for another wave of harm caused by U.S. nuclear weapons. Between 1945 and 1962, the U.S. conducted over 200 above-ground nuclear tests, primarily in Nevada & New Mexico. Nuclear testing was later moved underground, and eventually stopped due to increased awareness of the harms of testing.

Later, the technological advancements that made nuclear blasts as “tests” obsolete. Recent studies show the fallout from some of these tests spread all over the country, with devastating consequences for people living downwind. Many developed cancer, autoimmune diseases, and other illnesses. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), the sole government program which provided a one-time compensation to certain affected groups, expired this year. Neither candidate has expressed awareness of this program, or the willingness to restore it.

Human security missing from nuclear policy discourse

Meanwhile, across the Midwest, missile silos housing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) sit quietly beneath the surface after having displaced people native to the lands they occupy. One example is the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota, home to Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, which was flooded in the process of building nuclear silos. In addition to their historical damages, these aging relics of the Cold War are a potential hazard. Accidents involving nuclear weapons, known as “broken arrows,” have occurred throughout U.S. history, and as the infrastructure ages, so does the risk of mishaps.

What’s worse, U.S plans to modernize these ICBMs could only exacerbate the situation without a clear assessment on the impact they would have on the public. Furthermore, the very function of these silos is to act as a “nuclear sponge,” to draw out an adversary’s attack unto themselves, and to populations around them. Yet, there is no mention of the tens of thousands of people living near these silos that would die instantly in such an event.

Despite stopping testing, the U.S. has been mainlining its huge warhead stockpile, and has still not completed disposing more than 100 million gallons of hazardous liquid waste, containing both chemical and high-level radioactive materials from these activities. The United States also continues to generate new high-level nuclear waste to maintain its nuclear weapons program, and when implementing plans to modernize the nuclear stockpile.

The opportunity-cost of maintaining and modernizing nuclear weapons in the name of security might be domestic peace and stability. New data from the Funds for Peace project think tank, shows the United States is experiencing a downturn in stability, while losing social cohesion.

This framing national security as “human security” is not a new concept. Human security scholars suggest that the security of a country’s citizens is dependent on the public’s ability to take care of themselves, and to have the opportunity not just to survive but to thrive. The practice of incorporating human security indicators within the national security agenda is longstanding.

For example, President Dwight Eisenhower’s national security agenda focused on the improvement of education and transportation, which are indicators of human security. Today, this practice is reflected in the way social and cultural issues are debated on defense and security platforms and are considered in the process of adopting annual defense legislations. In a new opinion piece, Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow Allie Maloney, argues that “spending on non-defense programs and instead investing in the civilian sector decreases unemployment rates and contributes to economic security for the public,” increasing, in turn, the public’s real security.

Are Republicans and Democrats paying attention?

A discussion on the impact of nuclear weapons on the public is conspicuously absent from the platforms of both major parties. Democratic and Republican presidential and vice-presidential nominees barely even discuss more mainstream policies such as how they would avoid a nuclear arms race with Russia and China, and how to protect the American citizens from the outbreak of nuclear war.

The Democratic National Convention’s 92-page document mentions the word nuclear 16 times, and while the document asserts “nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” it provides no plans to address the harm nuclear weapons have caused the American public. Neither does it discuss how its “commitment to modernize,” which it calls “the bedrock of deterrence,” would be carried out without causing more harm to the public.

Meanwhile, Republicans broadly support not only modernization, but potentially expanding of the nuclear arsenal to “counter threats from Russia and China.” The immediate security of the public is a sacrifice they make without the public’s consent. The 2024 GOP Platform, which is dedicated to “the forgotten men and women of America,” forgets to mention nuclear weapons policies altogether. In the past, Republican candidate Donald Trump’s former adviser, Robert O’ Brien has gone as far as deliberating the resumption of nuclear testing, the impacts of which were laid out earlier in this article.

A step toward security: The need for a national conversation

As the 2024 election draws closer, voters deserve more than a handful of vague and half-thought references to nuclear weapons. They deserve to know how presidential candidates plan to protect Americans from the dangers posed by the U.S.’s own nuclear infrastructure. Will the next president work to resume RECA to compensate those still suffering from nuclear testing? Will they fund the cleanup of abandoned uranium mines, and riverbeds contaminated by nuclear waste? Will they address the risks posed by aging missile silos, nuclear waste, or modernization plans? Finally, will the next U.S. president acknowledge and take meaningful steps toward nuclear disarmament, which is a long-standing legal and moral obligation of the United States?

A president’s responsibility is to protect the American people — and not just from threats abroad. If Eisenhower could frame human security as national security at the height of the Cold War, so can the next U.S. president. A clear plan to address the full scope of nuclear threats is needed, lest the American public remain at risk from the very weapons that are supposedly designed to protect them.


Top image credit: Let’s curb loose talk of using lower-yield nuclear weapons
Washington's plunge toward nuclear Armageddon
Analysis | Global Crises
Kim Jong Un
Top photo credit: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the construction site of the Ragwon County Offshore Farm, North Korea July 13, 2025. KCNA via REUTERS

Kim Jong Un is nuking up and playing hard to get

Asia-Pacific

President Donald Trump’s second term has so far been a series of “shock and awe” campaigns both at home and abroad. But so far has left North Korea untouched even as it arms for the future.

The president dramatically broke with precedent during his first term, holding two summits as well as a brief meeting at the Demilitarized Zone with the North’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Unfortunately, engagement crashed and burned in Hanoi. The DPRK then pulled back, essentially severing contact with both the U.S. and South Korea.

keep readingShow less
Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one
Top photo credit: U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper speaks to guests at the IISS Manama Dialogue in Manama, Bahrain, November 17, 2023. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one

Middle East

If accounts of President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear facilities this past month are to be believed, the president’s initial impulse to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict failed to survive the prodding of hawkish advisers, chiefly U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Michael Kurilla.

With Kurilla, an Iran hawk and staunch ally of both the Israeli government and erstwhile national security adviser Mike Waltz, set to leave office this summer, advocates of a more restrained foreign policy may understandably feel like they are out of the woods.

keep readingShow less
Putin Trump
Top photo credit: Vladimir Putin (Office of the President of the Russian Federation) and Donald Trump (US Southern Command photo)

How Trump's 50-day deadline threat against Putin will backfire

Europe

In the first six months of his second term, President Donald Trump has demonstrated his love for three things: deals, tariffs, and ultimatums.

He got to combine these passions during his Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday. Only moments after the two leaders announced a new plan to get military aid to Ukraine, Trump issued an ominous 50-day deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire. “We're going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don't have a deal within 50 days,” Trump told the assembled reporters.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.