Sec. of Defense Nominee Carter Signals Support for Nuclear Modernization at Confirmation Hearing

Testifying yesterday during his first Senate confirmation hearing to become Defense Secretary, Ashton Carter said he supported plans to ramp up efforts to secure fissile materials around the world while focusing on nuclear weapons modernization and the triad structure. “I think we need to do both and can do more in the way of securing fissile materials and the other wherewithal of nuclear weapons and also biological weapons and other weapons of mass destruction around the world,” Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “And I also believe that the United States needs a safe, secure and reliable nuclear deterrent, because, as much as we would like to see nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction rid from the Earth, that doesn’t look like it’s something that’s going to happen soon. And it’s important that the American deterrent that we provide to our own country, but also to friends and allies who rely upon them, is safe, secure and reliable. So I think we need to do both and can do both.”

 

Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) asked Carter how he would address the findings of the recently released classified internal review of the nuclear enterprise, which the senator said contained “sobering” information. The review was conducted by Madelyn Creedon, Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, and Rear Adm. Pete Fanta, then-commander of Expeditionary Group Five. While Carter said he has not had access to the report, he said he understood that the reviews aimed to call attention to the need to prioritize the nuclear enterprise. Carter said nuclear weapons form the “bedrock” of U.S. nuclear security, and that he was committed to ensuring quality in nuclear weapons and command and control architectures. Responding to a question by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) about the three-headed nuclear triad and whether it meets U.S. deterrence requirements, Carter voiced support for the triad structure in lieu of a monad or dyad. “I think those deterrent requirements are going to be with us as far into the future as I can see,” Carter said.