Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby announced yesterday that a flight test of a Minuteman III ICBM scheduled for this coming weekend had been canceled. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made the decision “in an effort to demonstrate that we have no intention in engaging in any actions that can be misunderstood or misconstrued,” he said. “We did not take this decision lightly, but, instead, to demonstrate that we are a responsible nuclear power,” he said. “It is not a step backwards in our readiness, nor does it imply that we will necessarily cancel other routine activities to ensure credible nuclear capability.”
However, senior defense officials this week have said that they have not observed any evidence of Russia upping its nuclear posture, Stars & Stripes notes, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Feb. 27 order raising Russia’s nuclear alert status. “In this time of heightened tensions, the United States and other members of the international community rightly saw this as a dangerous and irresponsible and, as I’ve said before, an unnecessary step,” Kirby went on, assuming an air of moral superiority. “Such provocative rhetoric and possible changes to nuclear posture involving the most consequential weapons and our respective arsenals is unacceptable.”
