US must expand nuclear arsenal in face of Russia and China threat, warns top Obama defense adviser

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Security officials are sounding the alarm that the U.S.’s post-Cold War approach to countering a nuclear Russia is no longer enough as China, North Korea and Iran look to bolster their nuclear capabilities.

"For far too long, the United States has ignored revitalizing its nuclear arsenal. China and Russia have expanded their nuclear arsenals to achieve nuclear parity – if not advantage – over the United States by the 2030s," Robert Peters, former special adviser for countering weapons of mass destruction within the Obama administration’s Office of the Secretary of Defense told Fox News Digital.

"Inaction is not an option. A world where the United States suffers nuclear disadvantage, while our adversaries enjoy nuclear advantage, is a world where nuclear war is more likely."

In the Heritage Foundation report titled "Building the Nuclear Arsenal of the 21st Century," first obtained by Fox News Digital before its release Tuesday, Peters highlights the dangers the U.S. faces in the wake of failed nuclear agreements and the increasingly tense geopolitical reality that Washington and its Western allies must confront.

RARE DISPUTE REVEALS CHINA AND NORTH KOREA'S ONGOING DISCORD OVER NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Peters, now a research fellow for nuclear deterrence with Heritage, argued the U.S. needs to abandon its long sought after policy of global nuclear disarmament, and instead