Opinion Today: A new arms race is brewing — and the danger is significant

We must keep nuclear weapons out of space.

View in browser|nytimes.com December 5, 2024 Satellites in low-Earth orbit. Mass destruction there would lead to life-changing chaos below. by The New York Times. Source: T.S. Kelso, CelesTrak By Kathleen Kingsbury Opinion Editor On June 14, 1946, the day Donald Trump was born, mere miles away another legend of the New York business scene, Bernard Baruch, was making a bold pitch to the United Nations: Under a plan backed by President Harry S. Truman, a new agency called the Atomic Development Authority would oversee nuclear energy and the ability to produce nuclear weapons. The Baruch plan, as it would be known, would stop nations from building their own stockpiles. The agency would answer only to the U.N. Security Council, which would have the ability to punish any country that violated its rules, and all members of the Security Council would be stripped of their veto power concerning any prohibited activities. Most important, the United States, then the only nuclear power, would begin to destroy its nascent nuclear arsenal. "Let us not deceive ourselves: We must elect world peace or world destruction," Baruch told the U.N. "The solution will require apparent sacrifice in pride and in position, but better pain as the price of peace than death as the price of war." The United States would not relinquish its weapons without assurances that the Soviet Union would be unable to develop its own bomb. The Soviet Union did not trust any international agreement that allowed America to retain its nuclear monopoly. By September, Baruch confessed to Truman that he saw no hope for an agreement that year. Peace was not meant to be in 1946. Repeated alarms would ring over the coming decades. In The New York Times Magazine this week, the contributing writer William Langewiesche tells the story of a secret Pentagon war game, which was "allowed to play out to its natural conclusion: global devastation." Today, the world is preparing for a coming arms race in yet another frontier: space. In the latest installment of the Times Opinion series "At the Brink," my colleagues W.J. Hennigan, Taylor Maggiacomo and Jeremy Ashkenas explain the threat to satellites in Earth's orbit, including from Cosmos 2553, a spacecraft linked to Russia's nuclear antisatellite program. Outer space is becoming more essential, crowded and contested. Mass destruction amid its satellites would lead to life-changing chaos on Earth, even without a more extensive conflict on the surface. The world powers should establish a better shared framework before disaster strikes. "In his first administration, Donald Trump created the Space Force, a clear indication that he recognizes the threat of the mounting militarization and weaponization in outer space," Hennigan writes. "In his second term, it's imperative for Mr. Trump to lead an international effort that aims to improve space traffic management, open new communication channels with adversaries and slow the rapid development of space weapons that is already underway." Read the feature: The New York Times The Warning No shockwave. No mushroom cloud. But a space nuke would change life on Earth forever. By W.J. Hennigan Here's what we're focusing on today: Paula Byrne, who recently wrote for Times Opinion on why Mary Bennet is the sister we need, will be going live today at 4 p.m. E.T. to answer all your questions on Reddit about Jane Austen. Submit your questions beforehand here. Editors' Picks Guest Essay Democrats Must Stop Treating Black Women as an Afterthought If the party fails to see this, it will be the one left behind By Patrice Peck More From Opinion Guest Essay Rebels in Syria Have a New Face The rebel group H.T.S. was born as an Islamic State branch. 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