Drop the Nuclear Budget Burden

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today: Thursday, July 14, 2011.

The High Price of Nukes - William Hartung in TPMCafe [link]

• As President Obama and Republicans in Congress go down to the wire in negotiations over a package of budget cuts that would clear the way for raising the debt ceiling, we shouldn't lose sight of one key source of reductions: military spending.
• ... one area ripe for cuts is the nuclear weapons budget. Current projections call for the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade on maintaining and upgrading the U.S. nuclear arsenal …
• At this stage in history, U.S. nuclear weapons serve no useful purpose other than preventing another nation from using nuclear weapons against the United States. And a study by two professors of military strategy at U.S. military colleges has suggested that that mission could be accomplished with roughly 300 warheads …
• So as the president and the Congress continue to look for places to reduce spending, the nuclear weapons budget should be high on the list.

Senators to Clinton: Don’t sign Turkish missile defense agreement - Josh Rogin in Foreign Policy [link]

• When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gets to Istanbul on Friday, senators and their staffs will be watching closely to see if she moves the ball forward on an agreement to station U.S. missile defense radar there, an agreement many Republicans oppose.
• [Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL)] want the radar to be based in either Georgia or Azerbaijan, which they argue are better locations for defending against a missile attack from Iran. But more broadly, they are concerned that Ankara will place a number of onerous restrictions on the radar, such as demanding that no data be shared with Israel.
• The senators have also accused Turkey of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, which they said calls into question their reliability as a partner in organizing a missile defense system aimed at Tehran.

Good Times for the Nuclear Weapons Budget - Ben Loehrke in The Will and the Wallet [link]

• The defense budget is going to shrink. To adapt, the U.S. needs to make some hard choices about what defense programs are necessary to keep America and its allies secure in the 21st century. No such hard choices are on deck for the nuclear arsenal.
• FY 2012 budgets are slated to include: $1.1 billion for the Ohio-class SSBN replacement program … $197 million for the next generation strategic bomber … [and] $279 million for the B61 Life Extension Program.
• On the current trajectory, the total nuclear weapons budget is likely to soar past the half-trillion dollar mark over the next decade.
• So long as nuclear weapons exist, the U.S. will need a reliable deterrent to provide security for itself and its allies. But this strategic goal can and must be met on a tighter budget … With an arsenal built for Cold War excesses, there is plenty of room for cutting spending on excessive capabilities.

Parting Words: Gates on Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Europe - Kingston Reif and Emma Lecavalier in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [link]

• The priority now given to tactical nuclear weapons in Europe is not just open to question -- it is being questioned. US military leaders increasingly suggest that the deployment of tactical B61 nuclear bombs in Europe serves no military purpose.
• Moreover, political leaders in a growing number of NATO member states, including host nations such as Germany and Belgium, have called for the removal of the weapons.
• US tactical nuclear weapons in Europe provide a capability for a threat that no longer exists at a financial and opportunity cost that can no longer be justified.
• The US should begin a consultative process with its NATO allies to ultimately remove the remaining tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.

Russian-U.S. Plutonium Disposal Pact Enters Into Force - Global Security Newswire [link]

• The U.S.-Russian Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement requires the nations starting in 2018 to each eliminate a minimum of 34 metric tons of processed plutonium -- enough fissile material to fuel roughly 17,000 nuclear warheads.
• "This milestone marks important progress on U.S. and Russian commitments to eliminate nuclear weapons material," Laura Holgate, National Security Council senior director for WMD terrorism and threat reduction, said in provided comments.
• "Such eliminations are the ultimate in improving nuclear security, as they permanently remove the threat of theft or misuse of nuclear material, at the same time reducing the burden of securing materials."