Scott talks to Tom Collina about the alarming plan to expand America’s nuclear arsenal. The $2 trillion package, Collina explains, would include a large investment in what’s known as the “nuclear sponge”: a collection of ICBMs in America’s heartland designed to draw a nuclear attack from America’s enemies, rather than one targeted at Washington D.C. or other major cities. But this policy actually makes things far more dangerous, says Collina, since there’s then tremendous pressure to fire these land-based ICBMs before they’re struck. And if that strike turns out to be a false alarm, the U.S. could accidentally start a full-scale nuclear war. This kind of accident, Collina insists, and not a preemptive strike, presents the greatest danger of nuclear war.

Discussed on the show:

• “$264B for ICBMs That Would Be Destroyed in the Ground? No, Thanks” (Defense One)
• The Putin Interviews
• My Journey at the Nuclear Brink
• The Button: The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump
• The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner
• This Is the Way the World Ends
• “Opinion | Foreign Affairs; Now a Word From X” (The New York Times)

Tom Collina is Director of Policy for the Ploughshares Fund, a nonprofit combatting the spread of nuclear weapons. Collina writes for The National Interest, The Independent, Defense One, and many other publications. Find him on Twitter @TomCollina.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

Podcast (thescotthortonshow): Play in new window | Download