Defense Panel Raises Questions About Affordability of Modernizing Deterrent

A new study of U.S. defense policies suggests that plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear deterrent are “unaffordable” under current budget constraints and calls for “reasonable decisions about the appropriate structure for U.S. nuclear forces.” The study, “Ensuring a Strong U.S. Defense for the Future: The National Defense Panel Review of the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review,” was chaired by former Defense Secretary William Perry and retired Army Gen. John Abizaid and notes that modernizing the nuclear triad over the next 30 years could cost between $600 billion and $1 trillion, which it says could cut into funding for conventional forces.

Released late last week, the report advocates for “life extension programs and some modernization” whether the nuclear stockpile is reduced or kept the same size, but it says “reasonable decisions about the appropriate structure for U.S. nuclear forces are crucial for developing and maintaining the lasting and broad-based political support the U.S. nuclear deterrent needs. Such support is critical to ensuring that the U.S. nuclear arsenal is freed from the malign combination of neglect and political whiplash it has endured since the end of the Cold War in favor of a predictable and consistent funding and authorizing horizon.”