The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that he doesn’t believe that cyber capabilities can be a substitute for the nation’s nuclear deterrence forces.
“[W]e need to be very careful to maintain a safe, effective, and credible nuclear deterrent on its own,” Dunford said during a March 14 hearing on the Pentagon budget.
The general was responding to a question from Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), who said “those who favor reducing the size of our nuclear forces often argue” that cyber capabilities can be used to deter an adversary’s use of nuclear weapons. Dunford said the makeup of U.S. nuclear forces has been reviewed for the past three or four presidential administrations and the conclusion is the “current construct of the nuclear triad with a robust nuclear command and control capability is the most effective way to deter nuclear war.” The triad refers to land, air and sea-based nuclear weapons.
This story first appeared in Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor’s affiliate publication, Defense Daily.
