US President Joe Biden's promise to limit the role of nuclear weapons in the country's strategic concept has faced resistance from the Pentagon.
The military wants to maintain the status quo in the face of an arms buildup in China and Russia, Politico reported, citing its own sources.
At the beginning of his presidency, Biden made it clear that he wanted to follow his long-held belief that it was possible to limit the role of nuclear weapons and the likelihood of conflict.
"We will take steps to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, while ensuring that our strategic deterrence remains safe, reliable and effective," he said in March this year.
The publication writes that Biden's national security advisers will soon reconsider the conditions under which the United States can resort to the use of nuclear weapons. Among the options are adopting a "do not use first" policy or declaring that the "sole purpose" of the country's arsenal is to contain a nuclear conflict, rather than using it in a conventional war.
Both would mean serious deviations from the current position, which throughout the nuclear age has been deliberately ambiguous about whether the United States can strike first, and according to which atomic weapons are designed to "deter nuclear and non-nuclear attack," the publication says.
However, according to Politico, the Ministry of Defense is strongly opposed to such changes. The newspaper writes: "It looks like the Pentagon doesn't want to give him (Biden- IF) a big choice."
The media also note that US lawmakers called on Biden to increase military assistance to Ukraine. In this regard, CNN writes that the purpose of the visit of CIA Director William Burns to Moscow was to understand Russia's intentions towards Ukraine and warn about the attention Washington pays to the movements of Russian wax near the Ukrainian border, CNN reported.
It claims that "the United States is increasingly concerned about the irregular movement of Russian troops and equipment near the northern border with Ukraine."
CNN notes that "the Biden administration has stepped up its efforts in recent days to de-escalate the growing tensions between Moscow and Kiev." According to the channel's sources, after his meetings in Russia, Burns "spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in an attempt to defuse this tension."
The CIA chief also expressed US concerns that Russia is "close to" using gas exports as leverage, while Ukraine and other European countries are predicted to face an energy crisis in winter.
