DOD Defends its Nuclear Deterrence Policy, Big Budget
U.S. NUCLEAR DETERRENCE POLICY
Today’s Strategic Environment: Increasingly Complex and Dangerous
For decades, the United States led the world in efforts to reduce the role and number of nuclear weapons. Successive treaties enabled reductions in accountable strategic U.S. nuclear warheads, first to 6,000, and ultimately to 1,550. Thousands of shorter-range nuclear weapons not covered by any treaty were almost entirely eliminated from the U.S.
nuclear arsenal. Overall, the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile has drawn down by more than 85 percent from its Cold War high. Many hoped conditions had been set for even deeper reductions in global nuclear arsenals.
Unfortunately, the United States and our allies now face a security environment with increased complexity and worsening strategic threats. Today’s central challenge to our security is the reemergence of long-term strategic competition with Russia and China. While the United States has focused on maintaining its existing nuclear systems, Russia and China have increased the role of nuclear weapons in their strategies and have been actively increasing the size and sophistication of their nuclear forces. Further, North Korea’s nuclear capabilities threaten our allies and homeland and add to an already complex strategic picture.
Russia has been developing, testing, and fielding new systems for its nuclear triad over the past decade. This includes new road-mobile and silo-based ICBMs, ballistic missile submarines and missiles, bomber aircraft, and cruise missiles. Russia is also actively testing never-before-seen nuclear weapon capabilities, such as hypersonic glide vehicles, nuclear-powered cruise missiles, and nuclear-powered unmanned underwater vehicles.
China is developing, testing, and fielding new generations of land-based ballistic missiles, increasing the range of its submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and pursuing a new bomber. China is also expending significant resources on advanced nuclear-capable systems and hypersonic vehicles.
North Korea has conducted six increasingly sophisticated nuclear tests and three ICBM flight tests that demonstrated its ability to strike the U.S. homeland.
Nuclear Deterrence is the Bedrock of U.S. National Security
Given the strategic environment, nuclear deterrence is more important now than at
any time since the end of the Cold War. A potential nuclear attack against the United
States and its allies is the most serious threat to our security. Our nuclear arsenal is the nation’s ultimate insurance policy against such an attack. Nuclear forces, along with our conventional forces and other instruments of national power, also help prevent competition and conflict from escalating to large-scale conventional warfare. For these reasons, nuclear deterrence is the #1 priority mission of the Department of Defense.
For any President, the use of nuclear weapons is contemplated only in the most extreme circumstances to protect our vital interests and those of our allies and partners. Effective deterrence requires a credible nuclear posture—a credibility based on effective nuclear capabilities and the resolve to use them if required. Our nuclear posture does not imply we seek to fight or win a nuclear war, but rather strengthens deterrence and helps ensure nuclear weapons are never employed.
- Nuclear Deterrence is the #1 Priority Mission of the Department of Defense.
The nuclear deterrent underwrites every U.S. military operation on the globe—it is the backstop and foundation of ournational defense and the defense of our allies.
For decades, Republican and Democratic administrations alike have recognized the critical importance of the nuclear triad for keeping the peace by deterring nuclear attack and large-scale war among the great powers.
DoD is prioritizing the nuclear mission over all other modernization programs, when faced with that choice.
- We Must Recognize the Reality that Foreign Nuclear Threats are Growing.
Despite U.S. and allied efforts to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our defense posture, other countries have not followed our lead. We now face the most complex, uncertain, and dangerous nuclear environment since the end of the Cold War.
After 25 years of primarily drawing down and sustaining our Cold War systems, we must now continue the previous administration’s modernization program and pursue modest supplemental capabilities—such as fielding a low-yield ballistic missile warhead and reintroducing a sea-launched cruise missile—to address this more challenging threat environment.
The U.S. cannot project power against nuclear armed adversaries without effective, reliable nuclear forces.
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Nuclear Strategy Our Deterrent Must Be Modernized to Remain Credible—Delay is Not an Option.
While still reliable and credible today, our current delivery systems, weapons, command and control systems, and infrastructure are rapidly aging into obsolescence.
Due to previous deferrals, our nuclear forces are well beyond their original design lives—some decades beyond—and must now be modernized simultaneously. We cannot keep current Cold War systems indefinitely—if not replaced, these capabilities will be lost and the credibility and effectiveness of our deterrent will be at risk.
We must reinvigorate our nuclear forces and enterprise to ensure we have the capability and capacity we need to deter adversaries and assure allies.
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DoD NUCLEAR ENTERPRISE FUNDING |