Overview New START contains an updated, streamlined, and more cost-effective system of verification procedures that are tailored to the treaty’s limits, reflect the realities of the current U.S. and Russian arsenals, and, most importantly, will allow the U.S. to effectively verify Russia’s compliance with the treaty. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike […]
The Nuclear Weapons Budget, Cont’d
by Kingston Reif By now most readers are likely aware of the dustup surrounding Glenn Kessler’s November 30 Fact Checker story on the Ploughshares Fund’s estimate that the U.S. plans to spend $700 billion on nuclear weapons and related programs over the next decade. Kessler concluded that there are a number of problems with the […]
Additional Cuts to the Fiscal Year 2012 Defense Authorization Bill
by Laicie Heeley On November 15, 2011, the Senate Armed Services Committee revised the fiscal year (FY) 2012 defense authorization bill to include $21 billion in additional cuts, as mandated by the Budget Control Act. The bill would continue to shift funding from the base budget to the war funding account, a controversial move also […]
What the super committee’s failure means for nuclear weapons
by Kingston Reif “What the super committee’s failure means for nuclear weapons,” was originally published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on December 14, 2011. On November 21, the 12-member congressional super committee announced that it failed to approve a plan to shrink the budget deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the […]
Pruning the Nuclear Triad? Pros and Cons of Bombers, Missiles, and Submarines
By Kingston Reif, Travis Sharp, and Kirk Bansak As the United States and Russia contemplate further bilateral reductions in nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles beyond those required by New START, attention must be paid to the composition of each country’s strategic arsenal of nuclear-armed bombers, land-based missiles, and submarine-based missiles. To understand the stability that […]
