President Donald Trump’s reliance on social media for policymaking is well known, but the use of his Truth Social platform to announce an apparent change in America’s nuclear posture was a first even for him. On Friday, responding to threats from Russia’s former President Dmitri Medvedev, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had ordered two US nuclear submarines to be “positioned in the appropriate regions”. He added: ‘Just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that’”.
Trump may hope that this decision increases his leverage with Moscow as his administration continues to press for peace in Ukraine. But his threat is ultimately unlikely to achieve either objective. Instead, it amounts to a risky provocation that works against efforts to end the war in Ukraine, makes America less secure, and leaves Trump looking weak rather than strong.
Trump’s Truth Social post left unanswered questions—which submarines was he referring to, and what moves did he supposedly order? In reality, there were likely few, if any, changes to US nuclear readiness or undersea deployments. America has a fleet of 14 nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines, of which four or five are on “hard alert” at all times. These don’t need to be relocated to maintain strike readiness. They can hit targets from thousands of miles away and though their locations are classified, it is a safe assumption that several are already prepared to hit Russia if ordered to do so.
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