Arms control experts are calling on President-elect Donald Trump to tone down his harsh comments they claim threaten U.S. nuclear weapons policy.
Trump had tweeted that the U.S. should "strengthen and expand" its own nuclear capabilities."
According to The New York Times, Trump in an off-air telephone conversation on Friday with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski, reportedly added: "Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all."
Now experts say his remarks are damaging and could put the world at risk.
The Center For Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, a group which describes itself as dedicated to enhancing peace and security through expert policy analysis, said Trump's statements "could lead to an expensive expansion in global nuclear weapons and an increased risk for nuclear accidents and war."
Former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, a board member of the group, in quoted on the organization's website saying: "The statements made by President-elect Trump undermine decades of work the United States and its allies have been involved in to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles and to prevent the additional proliferation of nuclear weapons. A nuclear arms race puts everyone on this planet in greater danger."
Center contributor Jim Walsh, a security expert at MIT, says Trump doesn't fully understand the implications of his pronouncements.
"He is not yet president, has no confirmed cabinet or security team in place, and skips his intelligence briefings. Using Twitter to blurt out ill-conceived changes to U.S. nuclear weapons doctrine is unwise if not downright dangerous," he is quoted on the website.
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