by Kingston Reif The budget busting Ohio class submarine replacement program is fast becoming a roaring migraine headache for the US Navy. In an attempt to skirt the pain caused by the program’s enormous price tag, estimated to be over $100 billion, the Navy and its supporters in Congress are insisting that the program be […]
Fact Sheet: New START and Nuclear Modernization Funding
by Kingston Reif Background As part of his effort to win Republican support for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in 2010, President Obama submitted to lawmakers a 10-year plan to maintain and modernize US nuclear warheads, strategic delivery systems, and their supporting infrastructure. Contained in what was originally known as the “Section […]
Blown Opportunity: The Folly of Exempting Nuclear Weapons from Sequestration
by Kingston Reif While there is widespread agreement that sequestration is not a wise way to manage reductions in military spending, it is the law of the land. Unless Congress changes the legislation, the Pentagon will be forced to find $500 billion in spending reductions over the next decade beyond what is has already planned. […]
The UK’s Trident Program: Sink or Swim?
Well, it looks like the US isn’t the only country grappling with the issue of nuclear modernization. Across the Atlantic, the British government is in the midst of such a debate. The latest shoe to drop was the release on July 16 of a much-anticipated government-commissioned report titled the “Trident Alternatives Review.” The report put forth a range of possible alternatives to the country’s current nuclear deterrent.
There You Go Again
In a July 12 report to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development on the planned Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) in Tennessee, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) validated many of the concerns that have been raised about the project, including its burgeoning costs and endless delays as a result of management incompetence.
