Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

The United States Is the Only Major <strong>Nuclear</strong> Power
That Is Not Modernizing Its <strong>Nuclear</strong> <strong>Weapons</strong>.
But it gets worse. As part of the proposed $450
billion cut in U.S. defense spending over the next 10
years, House <strong>and</strong> Senate subcommittees have proposed
cuts of $400 to $500 million in the $7.1 billion
request for maintaining U.S. nuclear infrastructure.
This will put in jeopardy life-extension programs for
the W-76, W-78, <strong>and</strong> B-61 bombs.
On October 11, 2011, Congressman Ed Markey (D-
Mass.) sent a letter to the Joint Select Committee on
Deficit Reduction, signed by 65 lawmakers, that was
clear <strong>and</strong> to the point:
The Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union crumbled. The
Cold War ended. Yet 20 years later, we continue to
spend over $50 billion a year on the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
This makes no sense. These funds are a drain on
our budget <strong>and</strong> a disservice to the next generation of
Americans. We are robbing the future to pay for the
unneeded weapons of the past. 13
They recommended cutting $200 billion from the
estimated $700 billion planned for nuclear weapons
<strong>and</strong> related programs over the next 10 years. 14
While the U.S. nuclear infrastructure decays <strong>and</strong>
Congress dithers over whether to fund the much
needed modernization programs necessary to maintain
a safe, secure, <strong>and</strong> effective deterrent, Russia
<strong>and</strong> China continue to modernize <strong>and</strong> upgrade their
own nuclear weapons <strong>and</strong> infrastructure. While Russia
has tested <strong>and</strong> is deploying new ICBM <strong>and</strong> SLBM
systems, U.S. replacements for the aging Trident D-5
<strong>and</strong> ground-based Minuteman systems remain on the
drawing board. 15
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