By John Isaacs and Samuel M. Hickey Pentagon missile defense costs could soar to a massive $176 billion between 2020 and 2029, a 40% increase, according to a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report. Since programs were first launched in the 1950s to build systems capable of intercepting incoming long-distance nuclear or conventional weapons, the United States has spent more than $400 billion* on various missile […]
Fact Sheet: U.S. Nuclear Weapons Modernization: Costs & Constraints
Updated May 2023 The United States plans to spend up to $1.5 trillion over 30 years to overhaul its nuclear arsenal by rebuilding each leg of the nuclear triad and its accompanying infrastructure. The plans include, but are not limited to, a new class of ballistic missile submarines, a new set of silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, […]
Fact Sheet: The Nuclear Triad
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 delivery methods are referred […]
Footballs, Biscuits, and America’s Nuclear Monarchy
Inauguration Day means it’s almost time for the nuclear football to shift from one president to another. But how does that work, exactly? And in a country built on a system of checks and balances, why does the President of the United States have complete and total control over the U.S. nuclear arsenal? How did […]
The Humanity Beneath the Bomb
Senior Policy Director Alexandra Bell spoke about U.S.-Russian nuclear diplomacy, the Open Skies Treaty and the future of arms control on War on the Rocks’ A Most Terrible Weapon podcast. “We engage in these processes and negotiations not because they’re fun…we do it for our own security.” Listen now