The US Senate Armed Forces Committee has approved an amendment to the defense budget project for the next fiscal year, allowing to reduce the time needed to conduct a nuclear test, according to the newspaper “Hill”.
The proposed amendment by the Republican senator from Arkansas, Thomas Cotton, allocates $ 10 million to implement “projects related to reducing the time required to conduct a nuclear test when necessary,” according to the text of the amendment.
“Hill” quoted the President of the American Arms Control Association, Daryl Kimball, as saying that talks about the possibility of conducting a nuclear test “utter recklessness”, would violate the informal ban based on nuclear testing in the world, and push other countries to conduct nuclear tests of their own. And unleashes a new nuclear arms race in which all parties lose.
The “Washington Post” newspaper revealed, on May 22, that the United States began discussing the possibility of resuming nuclear tests. The newspaper reported that this topic was raised during a joint inter-ministerial meeting on May 15. Although the said meeting did not end with the adoption of a specific decision, a US official later revealed to the newspaper itself that discussions on this issue were still continuing.
And later, Drew Walter, Acting First Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Affairs, told the weekly newspaper “Defense News” that the United States would be ready to conduct a nuclear test within several months, in the event of a directive in this regard issued by President Donald Trump.