Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, yesterday underscored the importance of “stable, predictable funding” in sustaining the nuclear triad, as Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act this week. The bill would cut nuclear weapons spending by $100 billion over the next decade, including a reduction in Ohio-class Replacement posture, from 12 to eight planned subs. The bill would also trim warhead life extension programs such as the B61-12, and would cancel the Long-Range Standoff Weapon, the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility and the Uranium Processing Facility. “Stability in the budget is important for defense at large and security for our nation. For my business, no different,” Haney said during a Pentagon press briefing. “Being able to look at it year to year is very problematic, because when you look at these programs [it takes] awhile in order to get them built and in operation, even though they last a long time. I mean, the B-52 we’re operating today, built in ’62, will be out there all the way to 2040.”
Haney called for a long-term view of defense spending, aligning with sentiments expressed by Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak Tuesday during the Carnegie Nuclear Conference. Harencak said the quick hit of sequestration can prevent the Air Force from prudent budget planning. “Intellectually, we understand defense budgets are decreasing,” Harencak said. But sequestration “doesn’t allow us to plan the way we need to plan. My best military advice I would give somebody is if you…allowed us to know what that glide slope is going down, which allows us to make the right decision in recapitalization or modernization or how much money we put in this particular year into readiness, and maybe the next year, we can move a little bit more. You don’t know that with sequestration.”
