In what the Pentagon is calling a “post-INF treaty world,” at 2:30 pm. Sunday, Aug. 18, without prior notice, the Department of Defense conducted a test of a land-based cruise missile off the California coast at San Nicolas Island.

This missile test would have been banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) treaty, which the Trump administration terminated just over two weeks ago.

There are many who believe the termination of the INF brings us to the brink of a dangerous new arms race between the U.S. and Russia.

“Yesterday, I spent a peaceful, beautiful afternoon at the beach in Santa Barbara, celebrating a friend’s birthday. The only defense we needed was some sunscreen and a beach umbrella,” said Rick Wayman, deputy director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, a nonprofit based in Santa Barbara, dedicated to sustaining a peaceful and just world, free of nuclear weapons.

“I was appalled to learn that, just miles from our family’s tranquil celebration, the U.S. took a dangerous and ill-advised leap forward in its arms race with Russia,” Wayman said. “Testing and deploying such missiles is dangerous and unnecessary, and raises the risk of armed conflict.

“There was good reason why these weapons were banned for 32 years, and should have remained banned forever.”

Having ended the INF treaty, both the U.S. and Russia are free to deploy nuclear-armed missiles in the foolish pursuit of a nuclear advantage. This is part of a pattern of bad nuclear decisions by the Trump administration, which includes pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran.

For more about the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, visit wagingpeace.org.

— Sandy Jones for Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.