Updated May 12, 2025 The U.S. nuclear arsenal comprises thousands of nuclear weapons and three methods of delivery, sometimes called “legs.” Warheads can be launched from the air via strategic bombers carrying gravity bombs or cruise missiles, from the sea by submarines holding ballistic missiles, or from underground silos housing intercontinental ballistic missiles. Collectively, these […]
Conference Outcomes of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act
Topline Funding Nuclear Weapons and Related Programs Columbia Class Strategic Submarine House: $4.33 billion, the requested amount Senate: $4.51 billion, an increase of $175 million Conference Outcome: $4.46 billion, an increase of $130 million B-21 Long-Range Strike Bomber House: $2.8 billion, the requested amount Senate: $2.8 billion, the requested amount Conference Outcome: $2.8 billion, the requested amount Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) House: $1.52 billion, the […]
Op-ed: The West Wing Shows How Outdated U.S. Nuclear Policy Really Is
Communications Director Anna Schumann wrote an op-ed in Inkstick about how an episode of The West Wing about the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty that aired 20 years ago is still unfortunately resonant today. “Like so many others working in Washington amid the stresses of our current political climate, I recently decided to retreat to the fantasy […]
Shifting the Nuclear Narrative
Paul Castleman Fellow Erin Connolly wrote for the Berkley Forum about the need to shift the nuclear narrative away from deterrence and toward disarmament. “Recent efforts to highlight the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons around the seventy-fifth anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki offered an alternative perspective to the traditional narrative that nuclear weapons ended World War Two, saved […]
Trinity’s atomic blast changed the world
Senior Policy Director Alexandra Bell spoke with The Santa Fe New Mexican about the 75th anniversary of the Trinity Test and the idea of resuming nuclear weapons tests. “The $10 million authorized for test preparation ‘if necessary’ was a partisan political stunt, pure and simple,” said Alexandra Bell, senior policy director at the nonprofit Center […]
