Аннотация:The world-renown classic of the American literature Gore Vidal once sarcastically noted: ‘The American democracy is a two-winged eagle, and its both wings are right’. Is the same true about U.S. nuclear nonproliferation and arms control policy? Would an expert gain much from observing the sequence of Republican and Democratic Administrations to forecast U.S. actions in the nonproliferation and disarmament fields? Does any administration follow a certain inherited ‘operational code’?The chapter explores the consistency of the U.S. policy in the field of nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation, and peaceful uses of nuclear energy under different administrations. The authors believe there exists an ‘operational code’ in U.S. nuclear decisionmaking, embodied by career bureaucrats in the agencies in charge of U.S. nuclear policy. De facto, notwithstanding political appointments of the high-level leadership, senior-level offi cials with signifi cant expertise retain their offi ces and continue to influence policymaking. U.S. nuclear policy is tightly intertwined with the idea of U.S. global dominance and aspiration for complete invulnerability, lying at the core of Washington’s strategy for national security. The operational code implies using the tactics of engaging Moscow in the strategic dialogue on nuclear arms control supported by a ‘success’ on the track of peaceful use of nuclear energy and nonproliferation.