By Nils Holst, Policy Intern In a bid to have the United States join a global landmine ban, a group of Members of Congress released a letter to President Joe Biden last month calling on him to bar the U.S. military from continuing to use anti-personnel landmines, highlighting more than two decades of foot-dragging by Democratic and Republican administrations to end the […]
Erasing the line between theater and strategic defense systems: Implications for U.S.-Russia relations
By Samuel M. Hickey President Joe Biden has inherited a missile defense architecture that is on the verge of bridging the gap between the long-accepted demarcation of theater systems and those defending the U.S. homeland. The Pentagon has ordered the transfer of 11 SM-3 Block II A interceptors to the Navy for possible deployment in the Pacific […]
House takes important first step in rebalancing war powers
By Nils Holst Congress is considering legislation that would repeal the 2002 law that sent U.S. troops into Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein. While largely a symbolic gesture, if passed the bill would represent the first time in a generation that Congress has moved to restrict the war powers of the president and end America’s “forever wars.” The […]
Biden Defense Request Compared to Previous Annual Budgets
By Daniel Wirls, Professor of Politics, UC Santa Cruz The Biden National Defense budget presented to Congress in late January 2021 is a modest increase from the previous year but among the highest in the last 70 years in constant dollars adjusted for inflation – despite the effective end to the forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is higher […]
Fact Sheet: Nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missiles
Updated June 2024 Despite the Biden administration’s previous decision not to pursue the development of a new nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) and its associated warhead, the W80-4 ALT, due to cost and strategic considerations, Congress provided funding for the continuation of the SLCM-N program in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act. In FY23 budget […]
