Defense Secretary Aims to Revive Bunker-Buster Nuke Study

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is pressing for funding to restart the study of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Dec. 16, 2004).

“I think we should request funds in FY06 and FY07 to complete the study,” Rumsfeld wrote in a Jan. 10 memo to then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. “Our staffs have spoken about funding the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator study to support its completion by April 2007.”

A Defense Department spokesman yesterday confirmed the contents of the memo, saying the Pentagon “supports completion of the study” of the bunker-buster nuclear weapon.

The Bush administration’s budget for fiscal 2006, scheduled for release next week, is expected to include $10.3 million to resume study of the weapon, an Energy Department official said yesterday.

Representative David Hobson (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee, last year led successful efforts to eliminate funding for the bunker-buster study in 2005.

“Until we see the budget request, it is premature to comment on what might or might not be in it,” a Hobson spokesman said yesterday.

“The administration is missing a key opportunity to make good on the congressional decision last year if it were to renew funding of the study,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “It sends the wrong signal to the international community on the U.S. approach on nonproliferation, and Congress may again reject the request” (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Feb. 1).

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