Defense & Military

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is continuing testing of smartphone-sized nuclear material detectors with an eye toward deployment in 2018. The agency’s 2-year-old SIGMA program aims to develop more effective, less expensive devices for detecting even minute amounts of nuclear and radiological materials that might be used in a terrorist attack against the […]

Top Air Force officials have in recent days defended current U.S. nuclear posture that avoids officially declaring no-first-use of nuclear weapons, despite calls from lawmakers to President Barack Obama to adopt such a policy during his remaining time in office. Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein, Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear […]

Capitol Hill is buzzing with debate over changes to U.S. nuclear posture that President Barack Obama is rumored to be considering during his final months in office. At the center of these debates is the potential adoption of a nuclear no-first-use posture; current policy allows first use against nuclear-weapon states, but only under extreme circumstances. […]

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is an erratic personality in a nation that needs strong, calm leadership to deal with the global threats it faces, his opponent and other Democrats said during this week’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. In her acceptance speech late Thursday as the Democratic nominee for president, Hillary Clinton said Trump “can’t […]

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is an erratic personality in a nation that needs strong, calm leadership to deal with the global threats it faces, Vice President Joseph Biden and other Democrats said Wednesday in the third day of the party’s National Convention in Philadelphia. “Donald Trump, with all his rhetoric, would make us less safe,” […]

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) has named 31 members of the House Armed Services Committee to serve as conferees on the House-Senate conference committee that will work to reconcile the two chambers’ versions of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Conferees include Representatives Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.), Randy Forbes (R-Va.), Joe Wilson […]

The House of Representatives on Friday morning adopted by voice vote a motion to go to conference on the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), legislation the House passed in May and the Senate a month later. The House and Senate will next name their conferees to the committee, which will then develop a […]

Marc Selinger Defense Daily The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) said July 7 that the United States needs to be prepared to counter an increasing “diversity” of threats to its national security. The United States has been battling terrorist groups in multiple foreign countries for 15 years, but that threat “has not […]

The conditions for further reducing the role and number of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy do not currently exist, according to the former policy director of the Obama administration’s 2010 Nuclear Posture Review. Brad Roberts, now the director of the Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said Tuesday at the […]

The conditions for further reducing the role and number of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy do not currently exist, according to the former policy director of the President Barack Obama administration’s 2010 Nuclear Posture Review. Brad Roberts, now the director of the Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said Tuesday […]

The Senate on Tuesday passed its fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a vote of 85-13, following an agreement on June 10 to end debate on the bill. The upper chamber left the legislation largely the same as the version passed forward by the Senate Armed Services Committee, approving a handful of amendments […]

General Mark Welsh, outgoing Air Force chief of staff, said Wednesday that each leg of the U.S. nuclear triad will remain critical for strategic deterrence regardless of budget pressures, and that a separate account to fund the nuclear forces modernization for all three legs is worth considering. “I’m a believer in the triad,” Welsh, who […]

Dan Parsons Defense Daily The nominee to become the next Air Force chief of staff announced imminent program milestone decisions for two of the service’s nuclear modernization programs during a confirmation before a Senate panel on Thursday. Gen. David Goldfein told the Senate Armed Service Committee (SASC) that the Air Force should reach a decision […]

General Mark Welsh, outgoing Air Force chief of staff, said Wednesday that each leg of the U.S. nuclear triad will remain critical for strategic deterrence regardless of budget pressures, and that a separate account to fund the nuclear forces modernization for all three legs is worth considering. “I’m a believer in the triad,” Welsh, who […]

The Senate on Tuesday passed its fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with a vote of 85-13, following an agreement last Friday to end debate on the bill. The upper chamber approved two amendments on the bill – over 600 were submitted in total – leaving the legislation largely the same as the version […]

A new report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) suggests the U.S. take a more involved approach to extended nuclear deterrence posture worldwide by broadening the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) nuclear mission and developing nuclear-sharing arrangements in other regions. According to the report, U.S. extended deterrence posture in Europe is highly […]

The U.S. should take a more involved approach to extended nuclear deterrence posture worldwide by broadening the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) nuclear mission and developing nuclear sharing arrangements in other regions, according to a report published Tuesday by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). According to the report, U.S. extended deterrence posture in Europe […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is better meeting aircraft requirements for the nuclear incident response missions it supports, the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General (IG) found in a May 18 report. The report found that the NNSA has taken corrective actions since a 2003 inspection report found that the agency was not […]

The House of Representatives began floor debate Tuesday on its fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), considering passage of 61 of the 378 amendments filed for the bill. The $610.5 billion legislation would authorize $13.3 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration and includes amendments tying funding restrictions to mandates for periodic reports on […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 23-3 Thursday to report its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to the full chamber following the panel’s closed markup this week. A summary released Thursday notes that the $602 billion bill, which authorizes funding at the level of President Obama’s budget request, includes $543 billion for […]

Dan Parsons Defense Daily Both the ground and air legs of the U.S. nuclear triad are in need of replacement and the Air Force would welcome a dedicated fund to pay for their modernization, according to Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, deputy Commander of U.S. Strategic Command. When the Navy made the case to Congress that […]

Both the ground and air legs of the U.S. nuclear triad are in need of replacement and the Air Force would welcome a dedicated fund to pay for their modernization, according to Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, deputy Commander of U.S. Strategic Command. When the Navy made the case to Congress that replacement of its Ohio-class […]

The House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee on Thursday passed its mark for the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to the full committee with several amendments calling for reports related to comparative U.S. and Russian military capabilities to be submitted to Congress. The mark would also require construction of the Mixed Oxide (MOX) […]

Three unarmed Trident II (D5) submarine-launched ballistic missiles were launched last week as part of a Follow-on Commander’s Evaluation Test (FCET), following two intercontinental ballistic missile launches last month and an air-launched cruise missile nuclear weapon system evaluation program test, the U.S. Strategic Command announced Monday. “These six nominal launches, all within the past 30 […]

Three unarmed Trident II (D5) submarine-launched ballistic missiles were launched last week as part of a Follow-on Commander’s Evaluation Test (FCET), following two intercontinental ballistic missile launches last month and an air-launched cruise missile nuclear weapon system evaluation program test, the U.S. Strategic Command announced Monday. “These six nominal launches, all within the past 30 […]

The U.S. Air Force is taking steps to strengthen nuclear deterrence education and experience for the younger generation of airmen, according to Gen. Robin Rand, who leads the service’s Global Strike Command. Speaking Wednesday at a House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on the Pentagon’s nuclear forces budget request for fiscal 2017, Rand said […]

The Air Force is taking steps to strengthen nuclear deterrence education and experience for the younger generation of airmen, according to Gen. Robin Rand, head of Air Force Global Strike Command. Speaking Wednesday at a House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on the Air Force’s culture of deterrence, Rand said these efforts involve finding […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 1/29/2016 The United States’ nuclear posture should be updated to reflect the increased danger posed by Russian nuclear weapons threats and modernization, according to a panel of experts that testified Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Keith Payne, president and co-founder of the National Institute for Public Policy, […]

Valerie Insinna Defense Daily 01/29/2016 The head of U.S. Strategic Command last Friday tried to strike a balance between advocacy for the modernization of the United States’ nuclear triad and downplaying the nation’s diminished relationship with Russia. Foreign nations, such as Russia, China and North Korea, are putting a high priority on developing advanced nuclear […]

The head of U.S. Strategic Command on Friday tried to strike a balance between advocacy for the modernization of the United States’ nuclear triad and downplaying the nation’s diminished relationship with Russia.   Foreign nations, such as Russia, China and North Korea, are putting a high priority on developing advanced nuclear capabilities, and the United […]