Sec. 2. Findings

486 words·~2 min read·/bill/113/hr/4107/ih/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Congress finds the following: The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the Soviet Union 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 those 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 and upgrading its nuclear force, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

A substantial decrease in spending on 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 stated by the Department of Defense’s June 2013 nuclear policy guidance entitled, Report on Nuclear Employment Strategy of the United States . This guidance found that force levels under the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, signed on April 8, 2010, and entered into force on February 5, 2011, between the United States and the Russian Federation (commonly known as the New START Treaty ) are more than adequate for what the United States needs to fulfill its national security objectives and that the force can be reduced by up to 1/3 below levels under the New START Treaty to 1,000 to 1,100 warheads.

Even without additional reductions in deployed strategic warheads, the United States can save tens of billions of dollars by deploying those warheads more efficiently on delivery systems and by deferring production of new delivery systems until they are needed. 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, Our national debt is our biggest national security threat and on August 2, 2011, stated, 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.