When President Trump announced in late October that he had instructed the Pentagon to “immediately” resume nuclear weapons testing, he exposed the hypocrisy embedded within technology denial regimes. For so long, the United States has spoken from the high ground of nuclear non-proliferation while maintaining a voluntary moratorium on testing. Now, citing Russia and China’s activities, Trump has broken this proscription, revealing that the architecture of denial was never about universal restraint, but about preserving asymmetric advantage.
The Double Standards of Tech Denial Regimes
The figures tell a story of spectacular double standards. The US conducted 1,054 nuclear tests from 1945 to 1992—more than any nation has ever done. In one year, that is 1962, the US conducted 96 nuclear tests—nearly two a week. Compare that with India’s restrained nuclear testing record: one in 1974 and five in 1998, for a total of six tests over five decades. Yet it was India’s 1974 test that led to the creation of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) specifically to deny nuclear technology to India, even as the US continued nuclear testing without restraint for another 18 years.