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U.S. Nuclear Weapons

  • Nuclear Sword of Damocles
    Arms Control Today
    September 28, 2012

    Fifty years after the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of a nuclear holocaust, the threats posed by the bomb have changed, but still hang over us all. Today, there still are nearly 20,000 nuclear weapons, and there are nine nuclear-armed states. More countries have access to the technologies needed to produce nuclear bomb material, and the risk of nuclear terrorism is real.
  • Cartwright Urges Nuclear Spending Cuts
    Arms Control Today
    August 30, 2012

    As the possibility of automatic cuts looms over the ongoing debate on reducing U.S. defense spending, the former head of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) has called for cutting the nuclear weapons budget by roughly $120 billion over the next two decades.
  • U.S. Nuclear Modernization Programs
    Fact Sheets & Briefs
    August 22, 2012

    August 2012
  • Nuclear and Missile Systems We Can't Afford, Don't Need
    Issue Briefs
    July 18, 2012

    If the Congress and the White House are serious about reducing the booming federal deficit, they must work together to scale back previous schemes for a new generation of strategic nuclear weapons delivery systems and unnecessary spending on a ground-based missile defense system that doesn't work for a threat that doesn't exist.
  • Nuclear Weapons: Less Is More
    Issue Briefs
    July 9, 2012

    In the coming weeks, following a long bipartisan tradition, President Barack Obama is expected to take a step away from the nuclear brink by proposing further reductions in U.S. and Russian arsenals. This would be a welcome step toward making the United States safer while redirecting defense dollars to higher priority needs.
  • Letter to the Editor: The ‘Bloated’ U.S. Nuclear Weapons Budget
    Arms Control Today
    July 5, 2012

    In “Resolving the Ambiguity of Nuclear Weapons Costs” (June 2012), Russell Rumbaugh and Nathan Cohn estimate that the United States spends $31 billion on nuclear weapons and another $25 billion on related programs in the departments of Energy and Defense. The threats the United States faces today simply do not justify spending at these levels.
  • Official Nuclear Weapons Costs Too Low, Arms Control Today Article Finds
    Press Room
    June 4, 2012

    (Washington, D.C.) As Congress debates defense spending and deficit reduction, observers have pointed to U.S. nuclear weapons as a target for budget cuts. Yet, there has been disagreement about the actual costs of nuclear weapons, and estimates vary. Now, using a new methodology, an article in the June issue of Arms Control Today, the journal of the Arms Control Association, finds that the United States spends about $31 billion on nuclear weapons annually, or about 50 percent more than official estimates.
  • Former STRATCOM Head Calls for Cuts
    Arms Control Today
    May 31, 2012

    As the Obama administration puts the finishing touches on its new nuclear strategy, Gen. James Cartwright, commander of U.S. nuclear forces under President George W. Bush, last month called for making deep reductions in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, doing away with one leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, and removing the threat of a pre-emptive “decapitating” strike against Russia.
  • Resolving the Ambiguity of Nuclear Weapons Costs
    Arms Control Today
    May 31, 2012

    Russell Rumbaugh is director of the Stimson Center’s Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense Program. Nathan Cohn is a research assistant at the Stimson Center.
  • Don't Hold New START Hostage to Budget Battles
    Issue Briefs
    May 16, 2012

    Volume 3, Issue 8, May 16, 2012

    This week, the House of Representatives will debate and vote on the annual defense authorization bill, which in its current form would hold up implementation of the 2010 New START Treaty unless Congress increases spending on nuclear weapons activities that the Pentagon did not request and does not want.