CNN
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President Joe Biden’s stark warning Thursday night that the world faces the highest prospect of nuclear war in 60 years was not based mostly on any new intelligence about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions or adjustments in Russia’s nuclear posture, a number of US officers advised CNN.
The US nonetheless has seen no proof that Putin is transferring towards utilizing Russia’s nuclear functionality, neither is there any intelligence displaying he’s determined to take action. However Biden’s feedback – specified by starker phrases than different US officers have used so far – mirrored heightened considerations inside his administration in regards to the danger of Russia finishing up a nuclear strike in Ukraine, the place Russian forces have just lately confronted a string of defeats.
Biden’s blunt assessment caught several senior US officials by surprise, largely attributable to that lack of any new intelligence to drive them and the grim language Biden deployed.
One senior administration official stated Biden was talking “frankly” in his remarks at a Democratic fundraiser in New York, reflecting heightened concern based mostly on Putin’s recent nuclear threats.
The menace has lengthy been excessive on the minds of the administration’s national security officials, and the battlefield failures have solely served to raise common discussions and contingency planning in regards to the subject. However there was no second, briefing or new info that Biden was aware of that signaled any precise shift in Russian posture.
And the morning after Biden’s feedback, administration officers stated the US’s nuclear stance has not modified.
“Our posture hasn’t modified,” one official stated of the US preparations. “If there was some new piece of alarming info, it clearly would.”
There merely isn’t a lot – if any – precedent within the final six many years of a president so bluntly warning of looming disaster. The divergence in tone between Biden and his top national security officials is striking, with the President transferring sharply away from the coordinated effort to calmly warn in opposition to saber rattling, however not rhetorically escalate something.
But Biden’s remarks, as one official famous, do replicate actuality – a actuality which may be tough to understand because of the mixture of a far-off battle and a post-Chilly Struggle period when nuclear threats have merely disappeared from each day dangers. These dangers have grown acutely within the final eight months, even when there isn’t a tangible proof Putin has made concrete strikes in that path.
Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling led US national security adviser Jake Sullivan to warn of “catastrophic penalties” late final month ought to Moscow transfer to make use of nuclear weapons – and Putin has solely additional ratcheted up his rhetoric since.
Biden’s remarks function a window into a really actual, very ongoing dialogue inside his administration because the search to calibrate the response to that atmosphere.
CNN reported last week that the US is contemplating how to reply to a spread of potential eventualities, together with fears that Russians might use tactical nuclear weapons, based on three sources briefed on the most recent intelligence. The US has for the reason that begin of the battle been creating contingency plans to reply, together with to the likelihood that Putin might escalate by way of a step simply in need of a nuclear assault on Ukraine, by way of what one supply described as a “nuclear show,” corresponding to a possible navy strike on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant, or the detonation of a nuclear system at high-altitude or away from populated areas.
The specter of Putin utilizing nuclear weapons is definitely “elevated” in comparison with earlier within the yr, multiple sources told CNN late final month. However a number of officers acquainted with the most recent intelligence stated that the chance Putin will use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine continues to be not possible. The intelligence group is intently awaiting any indicators that the Russian chief’s calculus has modified.
The feedback have been additionally the most recent unguarded second from Biden throughout an off-camera fundraiser, the place the President has repeatedly deployed extra candor and colourful rhetoric he would possibly in scripted remarks. Officers say his off-the-cuff remarks at fundraisers are usually a quick and unvarnished window into actual considerations or debates Biden is grappling with in the mean time.
Sometimes held with only some dozen donors, Biden’s fundraisers are extra intimate events the place he typically speaks from handwritten notes, solely loosely following a script he’s written for himself. Like at his public occasions, Biden speaks from a handheld microphone throughout his fundraisers and normally roams across the room whereas he’s speaking. Reporters are allowed to hear and report on the President’s remarks however not movie them, a conference that started through the Obama presidency.
His remarks are normally solely slotted for 10 minutes however prior to now he has stretched to half an hour or extra, expounding on varied subjects. After the remarks, reporters are ushered out whereas Biden takes a couple of questions from the donors.
Whereas most of what Biden says on the fundraisers is acquainted, he has made feedback beforehand that went past his remarks to bigger audiences. It was a fundraiser in Maryland the place Biden declared Trump-aligned Republicans “semi-fascist” and the place he stated the views of the Catholic Church on abortion had modified.
Biden’s feedback in regards to the prospect of nuclear Armageddon weren’t scripted and aides again in Washington first realized about his remarks by way of information experiences and dispatches from the press pool within the room.
Biden’s reference to the Cuban Missile Disaster was notable, each as a result of it was the final time a US president spoke so overtly in regards to the dangers of a doubtlessly impending disaster, but in addition as a result of it’s sixtieth anniversary is just some days away.
Implicit in Biden’s feedback, nevertheless, was the dangers posed by a essential distinction. President John F. Kennedy and his team weighed a sequence of potential off-ramps and backchannel proposals that might head off the disaster. The Soviet chief on the time – Nikita Khrushchev, who had seen the horrors of World Struggle II – all the time made clear he understood the stakes of a nuclear standoff, even when his strategic calculation in Cuba was woefully off-base. Mutually assured destruction was the baseline, and even at their worst moments and most bellicose threats, the dealings between Kennedy and Khrushchev mirrored that actuality.
In distinction, Biden’s feedback about an lack of ability to determine an off-ramp – significantly as Putin’s navy flails – raises a really actual concern that the long-standing mutual understanding is probably not as assured as assumed. Putin’s at-times rambling and bellicose speech final Friday solely served to exacerbate that concern contained in the White Home, one official stated.
Biden’s use of the phrase “Armageddon” has drawn all of the headlines, however the context of that comment is critically necessary. White Home officers have pressured that the thought Russia might deploy “tactical” strikes, as per their doctrine, doesn’t signify some type of half measure or step beneath most escalation.
The President’s use of Armageddon served as an example that time – there’s no escalation ladder in terms of nuclear weapons, tactical or in any other case. Any transfer in that path units off a cascading response that solely has one end result.
A number of officers identified that Putin’s nuclear saber rattling isn’t new, and US officers have been grappling with the threats and the potential for his or her use for the reason that first days of the battle.
However White Home officers intently watched – and studied for clues – Putin’s speech final week – and very similar to his speech simply previous to the invasion, it raised alarms. It’s been a component of a number of inner discussions in current days, highlighting that whereas the world might brush off the most recent in months of Putin statements seemingly indifferent from apparent actuality, the Biden “doesn’t have that luxurious,” one official stated.
One official characterised the speech as “insane,” and whereas that bolstered the US view of Russian weak point and isolation, it additionally additional elevated concern about Putin’s willingness to escalate past the extent of a rational actor.
That’s necessary context when fascinated with Biden’s remarks, one official famous.
White Home officers determined to not say something publicly Thursday night time, and there aren’t any plans to deal with the remarks in isolation up to now on Friday morning. If Biden desires to deal with it himself, it is going to be obvious when he departs for his Maryland occasion later within the morning, one official stated.
Extra broadly, a very powerful component stays that US officers have seen no change in posture or particular intelligence that raises the menace stage above the place it has been.
There have been direct communications to Moscow within the final a number of weeks detailing the size of the US response ought to Putin resolve to go down that path. These particulars stay intently held, and officers say that received’t change any time quickly.
