Name: Breaking down Trumps comments on resuming nuclear weapons testing
Uploaded: 2025-10-30T16:58:37.470Z
Duration: 3 min 39 s
Description: President Trump made comments during his Asia trip about the U.S. resuming nuclear weapons testing. Robert B. Murrett, the deputy director of the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law, joins CBS News with more details.

President Trump made comments during his Asia trip about the U.S. resuming nuclear weapons testing. Robert B. Murrett, the deputy director of the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law, joins CBS News with more details.

Washington

President Trump has declared that the United States will resume nuclear weapons testing, marking the first such tests since the early 1990s. He stated that the move is intended to keep pace with countries like China and Russia, and that testing would begin immediately.

Retired Navy Vice Admiral Robert Murritt, a national security expert, noted that while there could be value in testing newer weapon developments, the extent and manner of testing are critical factors. He explained that nuclear testing by any country tends to raise international tensions, but careful handling could mitigate some of these risks. The announcement comes as Russia recently agreed to extend the New START treaty limits, a move both countries have supported.

Breaking down Trump's comments on resuming nuclear weapons testing

Let's go back to President Trump and the announcement that he made that the U.S. will resume nuclear testing for the first time since the 1990s, folks. He said it will begin immediately. The president said it's to keep up with countries like China and Russia. I'm going to bring in retired Navy Vice Admiral Robert Murritt. He's a national security expert and professor of practice at Syracuse University. Admiral, it's been more than 33 years since the last United States nuclear test. You know, I recall, I was a young man back then, that there were a lot of protests leading up to the end of the testing of nuclear weapons in this country. What was your reaction to this announcement? Yeah, it's a discussion that's been taking place for a while now, Vlad, and I think a lot of where we remain to be seen are the details and how you actually define what construes a nuclear test. As you were saying, it was in the George, Herbert Walker Bush administration the last time that we did one of these. There's no question there'd be some value to having some testing of our weapons, especially some of the newer developments we've had more recently, but it's how you do that, how extensive the testing is, is something that's open to question. Yeah, the president pointed to the fact that he believes that China could be on equal footing with the United States in the next five years. So does, help us understand, does testing those weapons, to me, and this is somebody who doesn't know anything about nuclear weapons, to me developing them would be, I guess, the way to stay ahead. I understand that there must be some level of testing done, but does testing in and of itself signal that we are a step, we are ahead of the Chinese and the Russians? Not necessarily. I mean, you can certainly have more assurance with any weapon system, to include nuclear weapons. You actually do a high order test, such as we last did in 1992, I believe. But there are other ways you can do it to try to evaluate their effectiveness and without having a high order explosion. The only country that's done that recently, of course, is North Korea, northern of the nuclear power nations around the world have done any testing for some time now. We're waiting to restart it, would certainly kind of raise tensions to some degree, provide more assurance, but we'd have to be very careful in terms of exactly how we did that. So obviously, the Soviet Union no longer exists. But could this testing perhaps bring us closer to another Cold War? I, you know, I wonder only because the world is very different today in 2025 than it was, let's say, in 1985. But I wonder what kind of a signal this sends not just to the Chinese, but now to the Russians. Yeah, it's a great question, Vlad. You know, the Russia and Putin, specifically just in the last several weeks, have kind of dealt with nuclear matter separate from a lot of the other tensions we've got with them. As you may know, they just proposed and agreed to almost unilaterally extend the limits that we've got for the New START treaty, which is going to expire early next year for an additional year. And President Trump has said he thinks that's a good idea, too, which is probably very positive. Anytime any country does nuclear testing, it raises tensions. So again, were we to do that, it would send a strong signal not just to China and Russia, but also a lot of other countries around the world. But it can be handled carefully. And I think if it was handled carefully, it wouldn't necessarily have to raise tensions. If we decided to do a very high order nuclear explosion test, that's kind of on one side of the spectrum. That would certainly raise tensions. Yeah, really interesting. Vice Admiral Murat, thank you so much for joining us, sir. We appreciate it. Thank you.

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Breakdown