Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
6/5/2015
The United States should maintain a nuclear triad, a former Defense Department official said this week, emphasizing that the U.S. fleet of intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear-capable bombers hedge the sea-based deterrent. “The rationale for a triad remains as strong today as it always has been, and it will remain, unless until we reduce nuclear weapons down to, essentially zero,” James Miller, who served as Principal Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2012 to January 2014, said during a speech in Washington. “That doesn’t look like a very near-term prospect.”
Miller said the United States does not need to pursue any “higher-risk” approach to ICBM modernization, involving exploring new basing modes or “innovative new approaches.” He said: “We need a few hundred reasonably priced, single-warhead ICBMs, perhaps capable of carrying a couple of warheads, plus penetration aids, as a hedge against new challenges.” The Office of the Secretary of Defense is expected to decide a capability path forward for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the planned Minuteman 3 follow-on, in Fiscal Year 2016. A GBSD Analysis of Alternatives was completed last summer, and apparently included options for a rail-mobile, fixed-site, or mobile-capable basing mode for the new ICBM, according to Air Force officials’ statements.
Nuclear-Capable Bombers in Reset to Asia-Pacific
Maintaining bombers is an “obvious choice,” as the military needs the aircraft’s conventional capabilities and because the cost to embed a dual capability typically composes 3 percent of the bombers’ overall cost, Miller said. Nuclear-capable bombers also provide an incredibly important extended deterrent, especially for the Asia Pacific, where we currently do not have forward deployments,” he said. The Obama Administration four years ago initiated a rebalance of engagements, activities and resources, to the Asia-Pacific. While Miller highlighted that sustaining the strategic deterrent is “fundamentally important,” he said nonproliferation should remain the No. 1 U.S. nuclear priority. “Nonproliferation should remain at the top of our list,” he said.
