GAO REPORT RAISES CONCERNS ON LIMITATIONS OF SMALLER STOCKPILE

While the National Nuclear Security Administration and Department of Defense are currently able to manage known limitations to the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, Pentagon officials have raised concerns that the effect of the limitations could be intensified by reductions to the nation’s nuclear arsenal, according to a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office. Limitations are developed by the nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories as guidance for where the weapon may not meet certain military requirements, and the GAO identified 52 different limitations on various nuclear weapons in the nation’s stockpile ranging from detonation safety under abnormal conditions to nuclear yield and worker safety. The GAO said that DoD officials “were confident that nuclear weapon limitations do not currently reduce the effectiveness of the nation’s strategic deterrent,” but it said that a national laboratory official expressed concern that a “smaller stockpile may not be able to support required mitigation actions if additional limitations, especially those that result in large decreases to weapon reliability, are identified in the future.”