APLN Policy Brief 66

The following is a summary. Click on the adjacent link to download the full brief.

Soon after its withdrawal from the INF treaty, the U.S. tested INF-class missiles and Defense Secretary Mark Esper expressed a U.S. interest in deploying INF-class missiles in the Pacific. Any proposal to deploy INF-class missiles even with just conventional warheads in Japan may not be easy. The significant local resistance against Aegis Ashore deployment, which was one of the two major reasons why the Japanese government recently canceled its deployment, suggests that there will likely be similar local resistance against deployment of U.S. INF-class missiles at any one of the American bases in Japan.

About the Author

Nobuyasu Abe was the former U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs (2003-06). He served as a Commissioner of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission (2014-17), Director of the Center for the Promotion of Disarmament and Nonproliferation, JIIA (2008-2014), Japanese ambassador to the IAEA and CTBTO (1999-2001), Director-General for Arms Control and Science Affairs, MOFA/GOJ (1997-99). He also served as a member of the Advisory Board to the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (2008-09). He was a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center with its Managing the Atom project (2018-19). Currently, he is the Senior Advisor at the Council on Strategic Risks.

Image: Unsplash stock, Forest Katsch.