Warrior Maven Column: NUCLEAR DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN?

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NUCLEAR DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN?

By Peter R. Huessy – Senior Warrior Maven Columnist

Four years ago, I wrote “The US defense budget will be unveiled by the new administration and sent to Congress February 9, 2016 and already the ‘doves with knives’ are out to cut critical nuclear modernization elements from the nation’s military forces.”

At that time, Gordon Adams, previously at the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration, and Lawrence Korb, at the Center for American Progress, were both calling for the unilateral dismantlement of major elements of the US nuclear deterrent. Fortunately, the incoming Trump administration and subsequent Congresses rejected their advice and proceeded with the necessary path towards eventual nuclear modernization.

This path was agreed to by the Obama administration only after the Senate insisted that as part of the 2010 resolution of ratification of the New Start treaty, a new upgraded and expanded ten-year new funding profile that preserved “the safety, reliability and performance of U.S. nuclear forces”, including plans to produce a new strategic bomber, bomber cruise missile and land based missile force, be agreed to. And the Trump administration did adopt the new plan and over the past four years secured a consensus in Congress to fully fund our nuclear deterrent.

But will the consensus hold? With a new defense budget due from the administration in February 2021, and the current year FY2021 defense budget not completed, once again there are proposals to unilaterally dismantle key elements of our strategic or long-range nuclear deterrent. The former Secretary of Defense William Perry and other disarmament advocates want to eliminate all land based ICBMs, cut the planned acquisition of 12 submarines to as low as 6, cut back the production of the B-21 bomber and eliminate the bomber cruise missile or LRSO.

In addition, the development of a nuclear-armed sea-based cruise missile to balance Russian theater or regional nuclear capabilities might also be on the chopping block. A flurry of recent critical comments from the disarmament community signals a new effort may be underway to significantly defund this program.