by Kingston Reif and Usha Sahay Outside of Congress, there is a strong consensus among security experts of both parties that the U.S. arsenal of approximately 5,000 nuclear weapons, deployed and in storage, greatly exceeds American security requirements. Inside of Congress, however, nuclear weapons have been subject to the same grinding partisanship as most important policy […]
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 […]
Fact Sheet: President Obama’s Berlin Speech and New Nuclear Weapons Policy Guidance
by Kingston Reif Background -The President in 2009 and the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) articulated the goal of reducing the role and number of nuclear weapons in US security strategy to comport with the 21st century security environment. In 2011 the President asked the Pentagon to lead an interagency review to develop several alternative […]
Fact Sheet: The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)
By Sam Kane and Kingston Reif WHAT IS THE PROLIFERATION SECURITY INITIATIVE (PSI)? • The Proliferation Security Initiative is an international effort that aims to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and their related components and materials. WHO IS INVOLVED WITH PSI? • Initially, PSI’s membership consisted of eleven countries (the […]
Do You Even Have to HASC: House Republicans Still Love the Bomb
by Kingston Reif Just when you thought the Republican-controlled House Armed Services Committee (HASC) couldn’t possibly go any crazier on nuclear weapons and missile defense, it doubled down on its fanaticism during last week’s mark up of the FY 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The result is a bill that if passed into law […]
