May 06, 2015

STRATCOM Chief Counters De-Alert Message of Retired Predecessor

By ExchangeMonitor

The top commander of U.S. strategic forces yesterday cautioned that the U.S. should not unilaterally de-alert its nuclear weapons, responding to a recently released report led by a predecessor that stated that the measure could induce others to follow suit. “I have a lot of respect for [retired] General [James] Cartwright,” former commander of U.S. Strategic Command, current STRATCOM commander Adm. Cecil Haney said at the Strategic Deterrence in the 21st Century Symposium in Warrensburg, Mo. . “This is an area that I fundamentally disagree with.”

Cartwright, who served as STRATCOM commander from 2004 to 2007, chaired a 30-person group of defense experts and former international military officers that completed a report released last week calling for the U.S. and Russia to take their nuclear weapons off high alert, either through bilateral agreement or respective singular measures. “The proposed precedent of early U.S.-Russian de-alerting, beginning within one year from the signing of an executive agreement by the presidents of the United States and Russia should encourage the other nuclear weapons countries to follow suit,” states the report, sponsored by disarmament group Global Zero. “They would be expected to refrain from elevating alert status while entering into a process involving all nuclear weapons countries to achieve a comprehensive multilateral agreement that verifiably constrains the attack readiness of all their nuclear forces. In accepting such obligations, unilaterally or by formal agreement, they would ‘lock in’ the current low alert status of their nuclear forces and shelve any plans to raise it. This would arrest current trends toward rising alert levels in Asia and strengthen international security.”

The report also states that the current high alert levels of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons boost the chance of a catastrophic accident, and that de-alerting would increase decision time, allowing the government to thwart attempted hacks of nuclear command and control. Haney said the U.S. currently has assurance mechanisms to prevent a spurious ICBM launch and to verify that the President is the only person who can authorize such a launch, adding that STRATCOM minds protection against cyber threats “very, very closely.” While Global Zero’s report states that high alert is a relic of Cold War doctrine, Haney said his command’s management of nuclear weapons differs significantly from that era. “Consequently, there’s a surety as well as insurance as part of the alert postures we’re in today,” he said. “We have to be very, very mindful of stepping away from that. And in terms of even coming up with a schema, where more than one country would join the bandwagon…you have to be able to verify that piece, and if you can’t, it’s useless in my opinion.”

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