I see the statement as a response to Burevestnik and Poseidon boasting online and so would wager this is not about altering US testing standard. But is instead meant to show off that the US has the tools to render any Ru investments to defeat missile defense irrelevant for basics of deterrence

So any minute changes that normal people don't really follow -- subcritical yield testing etc etc -- would actually give China a pass to "level up" and not really be in US interests. Why? US has the most test data (by far) of all the nuclear powers.

But if I had to guess -- what may happen is an increase in DV testing. So more minuteman and Trident testing. And not nuclear testing.

However, Russia has long been accused of violating the CTBT w/ tests > 0 yield. China has not, FWIW, been accused of the same

www.armscontrol.org/policy-white...