Yeah, there isn't really a solution. Personally I don't see long term national security as possible with nukes either. Sooner or later a situation will exist

Yeah, there isn't really a solution. Personally I don't see long term national security as possible with nukes either. Sooner or later a situation will exist where a bad actor is in power. Or they are just launched by accident. And large countries are not guaranteed to be politically stable. These large nations can and do disintegrate. I think the risk of obliteration without nukes is less bad. I would rather see my country destroyed in a first strike or invaded by a foreign power. I think that would be less bad than a nuclear war. The funny things is that the USA could easily be defended from conventional attack. And a small sub based detterant would be good enough. And there is a risk in stoking paranoia in your enemy by having large stockpiles. The vast majority of nations have far less conventional defence than the US and still don't want nukes.