Sec. 4. Assessment of updated force sizing requirements
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Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shall submit to the congressional defense committees a strategy that enables the United States to concurrently— achieve the nuclear employment objectives of the President against any adversary that conducts a strategic attack against the United States or its allies; hold at risk all classes of adversary targets described in the nuclear weapons employment guidance issued by the President as of the date of the enactment of this Act; defeat the conventional military aggression of a major adversary in one geographic theater, while simultaneously providing a credible conventional deterrent to opportunistic aggression in a separate geographic theater; provide a credible defense against limited long-range strikes against the United States homeland; satisfy requirements of the combatant commands for the presence of surface and subsurface Navy forces at rates of 80 percent or more; and maintain the capacity to regularly place a portion of the strategic bomber fleets of the United States on alert while not substantially undermining the requirements of the combatant commands for the presence of conventional bombers.
The strategy required by subsection
(a)shall include the following elements: An assessment of the amount of nuclear and conventional forces necessary to implement such strategy. A description of the classes of targets necessary to hold at risk via nuclear forces in order to achieve the requirements of the United States Strategic Command and the deterrence and assurance objectives of the United States. A comparison of the quantity of targets held at risk via the nuclear forces of the United States at the end of each presidential administration since January 21, 1977, and targets that are held at risk as of the date of the submission of the strategy. A projection of the planned growth in potential target quantities due to the expansion and diversification of likely adversary capabilities during the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the date that is 10 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. A comparison of the quantities and various employment options available in the nuclear weapons stockpile of the United States at the end of each presidential administration since January 21, 1977, and options that are available as of the date of the submission of the strategy. A projection of the planned quantities and employment options that will be available in the nuclear weapons stockpile of the United States during the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the date that is 10 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. An assessment of the impact of delays in ongoing or planned modernization programs of nuclear, missile defense, space, or conventional military forces of the United States. Any other factors the Secretary or the Chairman believe pertinent for assessing force sizing requirements. The strategy required by subsection
(a)shall be submitted in classified form and shall include a unclassified summary. In this section, the term congressional defense committees means— the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.