Yesterday, the Secretary of Defense submitted an unclassified report to Congress describing the nuclear employment strategy of the United States. The 491 Report, submitted in accordance with 10 U.S.C. Section 491, reflects an unclassified description of Presidential nuclear employment Guidance issued by President Biden earlier this year. The Secretary submitted the report in anticipation of issuing his classified implementation guidance to the Department and to the Joint Force.
The 491 Report describes, in an unclassified format, changes from previous presidential employment guidance. Updating U.S. nuclear employment guidance is routine and critical to ensuring that U.S. nuclear forces, plans, and posture evolve to maintain the United States' ability to deter adversaries, assure allies and partners, and achieve national objectives if deterrence fails.
The updated Guidance accounts for the new deterrence challenges posed by the growth, modernization, and increasing diversity of potential adversaries' nuclear arsenals. It builds on the findings of the 2022 National Defense Strategy and Nuclear Posture Review, and directly informs development of nuclear employment options for consideration by the President in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States and its allies and partners.
The Guidance also directs that the United States plan to deter multiple nuclear-armed adversaries simultaneously; requires the integration of non-nuclear capabilities where feasible to support the nuclear deterrence mission; stresses the importance of escalation management in U.S. planning for responding to limited nuclear attack or high-consequence non-nuclear strategic attack; and enables deeper consultation, coordination, and combined planning with allies and partners in order to strengthen U.S. extended deterrence commitments.
The 491 Report can be found here.
