By Marina Malenic
Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday expressed confidence in Air Force plans to reorganize and strengthen its nuclear capabilities but said modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal as a whole should be an urgent priority for the next administration.
“Let me first say very clearly that our weapons are safe, reliable, and secure,” Gates told an audience at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. “The problem is the long-term prognosis–which I would characterize as bleak.”
The United States is experiencing a “serious brain drain” in nuclear weapon designers and technicians, according to Gates, and a testing moratorium in place since 1992 means that the reliability of existing weapons has been diminishing. That deterioration of the approximately 5,000 atomic bombs in the U.S. arsenal will limit how much Washington may be willing to shrink those numbers in the future, he said.
“To be blunt, there is absolutely no way we can maintain a credible deterrent and reduce the number of weapons in our stockpile without either resorting to testing our stockpile or pursuing a modernization program,” Gates said.
He noted that the United States is the only declared nuclear power not currently modernizing its arsenal. Congress has thus far refused to fund the Reliable Replacement Warhead program “beyond the conceptual phase,” according to Gates, and this year cut funding even for that.
Neither presidential candidate has committed his support for the program (Defense Daily, July 3).
Gates said it is important to maintain a credible deterrent against rogue regimes such as North Korea and Iran, as well as against countries that might pass weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. In addition, the umbrella of protection for allies like Japan and South Korea undermines the likelihood of those countries seeking their own atomic weapons.
Further, Gates lauded Air Force efforts to reinvigorate its nuclear enterprise with the creation of a Global Strike Command that will bring all its nuclear weapons and materiel–the nuclear-capable bombers and ICBMs–under one organization that will focus solely on nuclear-related efforts (Defense Daily, Oct. 27).
Gates elaborated on the overhaul, explaining that, in addition to creation of the new command, the Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M., is being “revitalized and expanded” to focus on sustainment and “clear up ambiguous chains of command.” The service is also undergoing a “top-to-bottom review” of which items and materiel need to be taken out of the conventional supply chain and placed under control of the Nuclear Weapons Center.
“This will undoubtedly be a long-term process,” said Gates, “but I have confidence that the Air Force is now moving in the right direction.”
Two recent nuclear mishandling incidents resulted in the forced resignations of the service’s two top leaders. The incidents included an unauthorized transfer of munitions from Minot AFB, N.D. to Barksdale AFB, La., in August 2007 and an inadvertent shipment of sensitive missile components to Taiwan in 2006.
And finally, the defense secretary said rules of engagement for attacks on satellites and computer systems must be crafted as soon as possible.
“As we know from recent experience, attacks on our communications systems and infrastructure will be a part of future war,” he said. “Our policy goal is obviously to prevent anyone from being able to take down our systems.”
Preventing such catastrophic dislocations of communications systems might entail redundancy, Gates suggested.
“Imagine easily deployable, replacement satellites that could be launched from high-altitude planes–or high-altitude [unmanned aerial vehicles] that could operate as mobile data links,” he explained. “The point is to make the effort to attack us seem pointless in the first place.”
However, future administrations will also have to consider “new declaratory policies about what level of cyber-attack might be considered an act of war–and what type of military response is appropriate,” Gates added.