Sec. 2. Findings

377 words·~2 min read·/bill/113/hr/1506/ih/section-2

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Congress finds the following: The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the U.S.S.R. no longer exists, and the Cold War is over. The nature of threats to the national security and military interests of the United States has changed. However, the United States continues to maintain an enormous arsenal of nuclear weapons and delivery systems that were devised with the Cold War in mind. The current nuclear arsenal of the United States includes approximately 5,000 total nuclear warheads, of which approximately 2,000 are deployed with three delivery components: long-range strategic bomber aircraft, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

The bomber fleet of the United States comprises 93 B–52 and 20 B–2 aircraft. The United States maintains 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles. The United States also maintains 14 Ohio-class submarines, up to 12 of which are deployed at sea. Each of these submarines is armed with up to 96 independently targetable nuclear warheads. This Cold War-based approach to nuclear security comes at significant cost. Over the next 10 years, the United States will spend hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining its nuclear force.

A substantial decrease in the nuclear arsenal of the United States is prudent for both the budget and national security. The national security interests of the United States can be well served by reducing the total number of deployed nuclear warheads and their delivery systems, as suggested by the Department of Defense’s January 2012 strategic guidance titled Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense . Furthermore, a number of arms control, nuclear, and national security experts have urged the United States to reduce the number of deployed nuclear warheads to no more than 1,000.

Economic security and national security are linked and both will be well served by smart defense spending. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated on June 24, 2010, that Our national debt is our biggest national security threat and on August 2, 2011, stated that I haven’t changed my view that the continually increasing debt is the biggest threat we have to our national security. . The Government Accountability Office has found that there is significant waste in the construction of the nuclear facilities of the National Nuclear Security Administration of the Department of Energy.