The experts comment: Key nuclear questions that the US presidential candidates should answer

The US presidential race is entering its final weeks after a turbulent campaign that has included rhetorical drama, dramatic debates, the late withdrawal of a sitting president, and two assassination attempts­. The economy, immigration, and abortion have taken center stage as the issues that the candidates—Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump—and US media outlets have emphasized. The existential threat of nuclear war has received only brief and tangential attention.

But the next president will be confronted with a highly challenging security environment and a daunting array of new and continuing nuclear risks. The use of nuclear weapons becomes more likely as the Russia-Ukraine war drags on. Growing tensions among China, Russia, and the United States and the collapse of the nuclear arms control regime create the prospect of an unrestrained arms race between the three nuclear superpowers. The war in Gaza and the resulting face-off between Israel and Iran could lead to unabashed nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. And China’s growing regional ambitions and North Korea’s increasingly aggressive behavior worry other East Asian countries that wonder about the credibility of the US security guarantees and increasingly express interest in possessing nuclear arsenals of their own.

As a service to citizens and the journalists who will cover the final weeks of the campaign, we asked leading nuclear policy experts to suggest questions that the presidential candidates should be asked about the nuclear threat and how best to reduce it. The commentaries below provide a framework for assessing the strategic plans of the two candidates for moving the world away from nuclear catastrophe. If such plans exist.

American voters, allies, and adversaries are watching. The presidential candidates should be explaining.

Siegfried Hecker

Has Russia’s war in Ukraine changed your view of the role of nuclear weapons?

Former Los Alamos lab director Siegfried Hecker proposes a series of nine questions on great power competition, the global nuclear order, proliferation, and the role of nuclear energy that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.

Steven Pifer

What will you do to avoid a nuclear arms race with Russia and China?

Former US ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer suggests that the 2024 US presidential candidates be asked about their plan to avoid a nuclear arms race with Russia and China.

Laura Grego

What is your plan to prevent the next dangerous and expensive nuclear arms race?

Laura Grego, a senior scientist and the research director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, suggests five questions about the international norm against nuclear use, the presidential launch authority, the next nuclear arms race, risks from technological advances, and the compensation of exposed communities that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.

Tom Z. Collina

How many nuclear warheads does the United States need?

Tom Z. Collina, a national security expert and former director of policy at the Ploughshares Fund, proposes a single, central question about nuclear weapons that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.

Mackenzie Knight

Should the president retain the sole authority to order the use of nuclear weapons?

Mackenzie Knight, a senior research associate at the Federation of American Scientists and co-author of the Bulletin’s Nuclear Notebook, proposes a series of seven questions on presidential launch authority, modernization of nuclear weapons, and arms control that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.

Daryl G. Kimball

Do you agree with other world leaders that the use of—or threat to use—nuclear weapons is “inadmissible”?

Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association, suggests four questions about the use of nuclear weapons, US-Russia arms control, and Iran that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.

Sara Bjerg Moller

How will you reassure allies worried about the credibility of the US security guarantees?

Sara Moller, an associate teaching professor at Georgetown University and a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, suggests that the 2024 US presidential candidates be asked about how they plan to reassure allies who doubt the US readiness to protect them.

Henry Sokolski

What will you do if Iran gets the bomb?

Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, proposes three nuclear questions about Iran, China, and reactors in war zones that journalists and citizens could profitably ask the 2024 presidential candidates.

Eliana Johns

How will you deter North Korea’s aggression without deteriorating the situation on the Korean Peninsula?

Eliana Johns, a senior research associate at the Federation of American Scientists and co-author of the Bulletin’s Nuclear Notebook, proposes four nuclear questions about the US arsenal, nuclear testing, use of nuclear weapons, and North Korea that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.

Alicia Sanders-Zakre

Will the United States sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons?

Alicia Sanders-Zakre, the policy and research coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, suggests that the 2024 US presidential candidates be asked whether they will join the international effort to ban nuclear weapons.

Editor’s note: We will be adding expertly crafted questions for the candidates as they come over the next few weeks. Stay tuned.