A Different Approach to Nonproliferation (2005)

• The bedrock foundation of U.S. national security today, as in the past, is a safe, secure, reliable nuclear weapons arsenal capable of performing, with unquestioned effectiveness, all the new demands placed upon it.  Among the foreseeable maturing demands are:

• Precise nuclear weapon effects to deter all potential adversaries by threatening to destroy those assets upon which they place highest value.

• Ability to reduce collateral damage and casualties in every targeting application, to enhance credibility of use.

• Precise, tested effects to destroy a wide spectrum of hard and deeply buried targets.

• Precise, tested effects to achieve optimum results when used against weapons or sites containing chemical or biological agents.

• Nuclear weapons that are tested to be as safe, secure, and controllable as can be achieved by state-of-the-art technology.

• Nuclear weapons so current and varied as to give the President both the most powerful levels of deterrence and the widest range of options in times of crisis or conflict.

• The future is uncertain!  Threats can arise or change in startling ways in a very few years.  Yet for twelve years theU.S.nuclear weapons enterprise has been locked in place, with all eyes focused backwards on our existing stockpile.  We are over a decade late in commencing the essential transformation of our nuclear weapons capability to post-Cold-War threats.  Even with an aggressive start today, it will take about two decades to significantly change our stockpile to meet the new types of threats we face!

• Since many aspects of these threats are unknown, what is our best nuclear weapons strategy?  Certainly three elements must be: (1) Pursuing a robust, well-funded, unrestricted advanced concepts program, including testing; (2) Maintaining our scientists, designers, test personnel, production teams, and military forces at the highest levels of readiness and efficiency through constant, actual, hands-on performance in modernizing the stockpile and training for its use; and (3) Reconfiguring our nuclear weapons infrastructure to be modern, responsive, and flexible…capable of reacting rapidly to surprise needs.

In sum, the U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise faces an urgent, serious “test resumption” challenge!