Democratic senator urges Trump not to resume nuclear weapons tests

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senator Edward Markey on Tuesday urged President Donald Trump not to resume explosive nuclear weapons testing, saying that doing so could spur rival nuclear powers Russia and China to do the same.

Trump late last month announced on social media that he was directing the Pentagon to immediately restart the process for testing nuclear weapons after a halt of 33 years. His move caused confusion because it is the National Nuclear Security Administration, a branch of the Energy Department, that would carry out explosive nuclear weapons tests.

"Even one small U.S. nuclear test would give Russia and China the green light to conduct many large nuclear tests that would be much more useful for the development of new nuclear weapons that could pose a threat to U.S. national security," Markey wrote in a letter to Trump.

Markey, a co-chair of the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group with members in the Senate and House of Representatives, has been a longtime leader of non-proliferation efforts in Congress. He had pushed Trump in 2020, during his first presidential term, against resuming explosive nuclear weapons tests.

The White House reiterated on Tuesday that the testing process will begin "immediately" and that Trump had instructed his administration to do it "because of other countries' testing programs."

Trump would like to see denuclearization, but he feels the action is appropriate to "maintain a strong, credible and effective nuclear deterrent," a White House official said.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said on social media on November 3 that Trump "is right" about other countries testing nuclear weapons.

In response to Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his top officials to draft proposals for a possible test of nuclear weapons, something Moscow has not done since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Trump has suggested that Russia and China are conducting small nuclear tests that are hard to detect, known as hydronuclear tests, in violation of U.S. policy and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Markey said in the letter.

"Reports of such tests from 2019 raise concerns, but they are unconfirmed," Markey said. "Even if true, they would not justify renewed U.S. nuclear testing."

Markey asked Trump for evidence by December 15 that Russia and China are conducting secret nuclear tests. He also asked Trump whether his statements reflect a misunderstanding of the difference between missile tests and nuclear explosive tests.