Biden Nuclear Security Official Called for ‘Queering Nuclear Weapons’

A nuclear policy expert appointed to the Department of Energy under the Biden administration in February 2024 previously co-authored an article entitled “queering nuclear weapons” which argued “queer theory” should be used to inform American nuclear policy.
Sneha Nair works as a special assistant at the National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency responsible for maintaining the safety and security of America’s extensive arsenal of nuclear weapons.
On Wednesday Beijing said it was “seriously concerned” after President Biden updated America’s Nuclear Employment Guidance to focus on the threat from China, according to The New York Times.
Nair co-authored a piece titled Queering nuclear weapons: How LGBTQ+ inclusion strengthens security and reshapes disarmament which was published in June 2023 by the influential Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a magazine which focuses on the threats to humanity from emerging technologies.
The U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile has come under increased scrutiny against the backdrop of rising tensions with rival nuclear armed nations Russia, as well as China. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Russia currently has 4,380 nuclear weapons against 3,708 for the U.S. and 500 for China.
Beijing is understood to be rapidly increasing its nuclear arsenal and the U.S. military estimates it could have over 1,000 nuclear weapons by 2030.
When writing the article, Nair was a nuclear research expert at the Stimson Center, a Washington, D.C-based think tank. Her co-author was Louis Reitmann, a research associate at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
In their article Nair and Reitmann argued queer theory, which they defined as “a field of study, closely related to feminist theory, that examines sex- and gender-based norms,” can “help change how nuclear practitioners, experts, and the public think about nuclear weapons.”
They continued: “Queer theory also identifies how the nuclear weapons discourse is gendered: Nuclear deterrence is associated with ‘rationality’ and ‘security,’ while disarmament and justice for nuclear weapon victims are coded as ’emotion’ and a lack of understanding of the ‘real’ mechanics of security.”
Nair and Reitmann used their piece to criticize what they suggested was an excessive focus on “the abstract idea of national security” over individual rights.
They said: “The queer lens prioritizes the rights and well-being of people over the abstract idea of national security, and it challenges the mainstream understanding of nuclear weapons—questioning whether they truly deter nuclear war, stabilize geopolitics, and reduce the likelihood of conventional war.
“Queer theory asks: Who created these ideas? How are they being upheld? Whose interests do they serve? And whose experiences are being excluded?”
The authors spoke positively about nuclear disarmament writing: “Queer theory helps us not only see the bad of a world with nuclear weapons, but also imagine the good of a world without them.
“It envisions using the resources freed up by nuclear disarmament to build structures that tangibly increase people’s safety and well-being through health care, social housing, etc.”
Newsweek contacted the Department of Energy and Sneha Nair for comment on Thursday by email via the Department of Energy’s press office outside of regular office hours.
Earlier this month House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Mike Turner said he was concerned Iran could declare itself a nuclear weapons state “by the end of the year.”
The U.S. is legally obliged to pursue global nuclear disarmament under the treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, signed by 190 nations, including the U.S. Russia and China.
And, under the new START treaty with Russia, both sides agreed to reduce strategic warheads to no more than 1,500 each. This expires in 2026.