Nations more worrisome include those officially lacking nuclear warheads. The report states that “North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Libya are among the countries that could be involved in immediate, potential or unexpected contingencies. All have long-standing hostility toward the United States ... all sponsor or harbor terrorists, and all have active” programs to create weapons of mass destruction. While North Korea, Iraq, and Iran may obtain nuclear capabilities in the near future, the United States is mainly concerned with chemical and biological weapon attacks from these countries. The possibility of US use of nuclear weapons to counter such non-nuclear attacks has concerned these countries.

Aside from the political consequences of making public knowledge a document with such inflammatory potential, the plan outlined in the Review has vast implications. Given the power of conventional US forces, nuclear weapons should not be used as strategic resources for any other purpose besides countering a nuclear attack. The threat of a new arms race and the possibility of enduring the dire consequences of a nuclear strike could substantially undermine US standing as well as world security and stability.