How Is Nuke Summit Making Us Safer?

President Obama is in the middle of a frenzied fortnight of efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons. First, there was the new Nuclear Posture Review, the administration’s effort to overturn America’s deterrence policy, which has kept the peace for 60 years, and replace it with a more limited plan that calls into question America’s nuclear umbrella over our allies.
Second, President Obama initialed a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russian President Medvedev, which reduces nuclear arsenals of both countries.

Today begins Washington’s Nuclear Summit, where 47 nations will meet to discuss how get a handle on loose nuclear materials and keep them out of hands of terrorists.

And when the flurry of meetings is over we’re all supposed to feel safer. But we shouldn’t. Why? Because the president’s nuclear initiatives are akin to putting deadbolts on the front door, while leaving the back door wide open.

The biggest threat to world peace today isn’t Russia’s nuclear arsenal or America’s nuclear policy – it’s Iran’s nuclear weapons program. If allowed to go forward unchecked it will precipitate a nuclear arms race in the most dangerous, unstable part of the world -- as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Emirates and others conclude they need nuclear weapons of their own.

Israeli leaders believe that if Iran gets nuclear weapons Israel’s days are numbered. If the U.S. fails to stop Iran, Israel could soon conclude it has no choice but to launch a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Most experts believe an Israeli-Iran war will quickly escalate into a regional conflict and could well draw in the U.S. So how is this making us safer?

The president has offered us hope that he can bring about a world free of nuclear weapons. But as long as his actions are more hype than hope, he’s lulling us into a false sense of security at a time when the world is on the verge of becoming a much more dangerous place.

Kathleen Troia "K.T." McFarland is a Fox News National Security Analyst and host of FoxNews.com's DefCon 3. She is a Distinguished Adviser to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and served in national security posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. She wrote Secretary of Defense Weinberger’s November 1984 "Principles of War Speech" which laid out the Weinberger Doctrine. Be sure to watch "K.T." and Mike Baker every Monday at 10 a.m. on FoxNews.com's "DefCon3" already one of the Web's most watched national security programs.