U.S. Needs to Modernize Nuclear Arsenal, Report Says

The United States must invest in a sturdier, smaller and more reliable nuclear arsenal to convincingly deter nascent nuclear powers, says a U.S. strategy report summary released yesterday (see GSN, June 26).

“We are at a critical juncture that requires the U.S. to invest now in the capabilities needed to maintain a credible deterrent at the lowest level of nuclear weapons,” said the national nuclear security strategy summary submitted Friday to Congress by the secretaries of state, defense and energy.

The report underscores the need for a smaller, more modern nuclear arsenal to protect the United States and its allies.  The U.S. arsenal is aging while “rogue states” are seeking nuclear weapons and “established nuclear powers” are refurbishing their stockpiles, said the three-page document.

“The United States needs to invest in the Reliable Replacement Warhead program” that is crucial “to sustaining long-term confidence in our deterrent capability — especially as the U.S. reduces its nuclear forces [and] the total number of weapons in the stockpile,” said the report .

The United States has roughly 6,000 operational nuclear warheads today but between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads — the number set under the Moscow Treaty — would be sufficient, the report noted. 

The Bush administration says the new warhead would have new safety features, would not require explosive testing, and would be easier to maintain and produce than its Cold War-era predecessors.  Critics say it could undermine the international nonproliferation regime (see GSN, June 26).

The document promised a follow-on report to “lay out the data and methodology used to determine our nuclear weapons force structure, outline knowledge points for measuring progress in transforming our nuclear stockpile, and dispel a number of myths that have grown up around U.S. nuclear forces.” 

No release date was given for the full report (U.S. Defense Department release, July 24).

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