Drafted behind closed doors by a small group of defense officials, a new Pentagon strategy aims to expand battlefield nuclear options and blur the line between conventional and nuclear warfare—bypassing public oversight while dramatically raising the risk of unintended global escalation. (Illustration by François Diaz-Maurin; source images via National Archives and Canva.com)
| September 11, 2026
A new nuclear policy is taking shape in secret, crafted by a small group of Pentagon officials, that will give President Donald Trump more ways to start a nuclear war. Little is known about the strategic nuclear review now under way in the Trump administration, but officials’ comments suggest that it may bring back one of the most dangerous policies of the Cold War: the proliferation of battlefield nuclear weapons and their early use in a conventional war.
In the 1950s, a revolution occurred in military thinking about nuclear weapons. Rather than keeping the most destructive bombs ever invented as weapons of last resort in only the most extreme situations, military leaders began to see them as weapons usable in conventional conflicts, particularly in Europe.