Because immediately after WW II the policy of the government became to use the nuclear arsenal as a deterrence. Panel recommendations have even concluded that the US should not even threaten to use nuclear weapons in response to conventional. chemical, or biological attacks. Mainly because it is believed that conventional forces are powerful enough to deliver a retaliatory blow. Certainly the US or any country holding such weapons reserves the right to retaliate with such however a pre-=emptive strike of that kind would be completely against all US policy to date and extremely unlikely.
A few years ago there were rumors that the US was planning to use nuclear weapons to destroy Iraqi chemical storage facilities and the US had to release a statement that even if there were a biological or chemical attack against the US, the US would respond with a devastating retaliatory strike without using nuclear weapons. - in line with panel recommendations.
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