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U.S. Nuclear Weapons

  • Support for Nuclear Weapons Funding Dips
    Arms Control Today
    September 30, 2011

    Congressional backing for increased nuclear weapons spending that was evident after last year’s debate on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty appears to be cracking under the weight of federal budget deficits as a Senate subcommittee last month approved a spending bill that fell $400 million short of the Obama administration’s request for nuclear weapons funding.
  • Disarmament and the Deficit
    Arms Control Today
    September 28, 2011

    Within weeks, a congressional “supercommittee” is due to deliver recommendations for reducing the U.S. federal budget deficit over the next decade. The Pentagon and the White House support trimming military spending by at least $350 billion as part of the plan, but some Republicans are balking. If Congress fails to agree on a deficit reduction formula, even deeper budget cuts will be triggered.
  • In Memoriam: Mark O. Hatfield (1922–2011)
    Arms Control Today
    August 30, 2011

    Mark O. Hatfield, the former Republican senator from Oregon, died August 7 in Portland at the age of 89. He was a political maverick, a pragmatic idealist who worked across the aisle to take on big issues, including the long-running U.S. war in Vietnam, the insanity of the nuclear arms race, excessive military spending, and the global arms trade.
  • Nuclear Triad Budgets Questioned
    Arms Control Today
    August 30, 2011

    Plans for increased funding for new strategic nuclear delivery systems and upgrades to nuclear weapons facilities are under scrutiny as Republicans and Democrats seek to reduce the federal budget deficit.
  • Op-ed: GOP candidates, what do you say about savings in military budget?
    Press Room
    August 4, 2011

    By Greg Thielmann, Senior Fellow, Arms Control Association

    The following piece was originally posted online at The Des Moines Register on August 4, 2011.

    Washington is obsessed these days with reducing the deficit. The GOP presidential contenders crisscrossing Iowa give prominence to the issue as well. But even as they call for ever deeper budget cuts, they have been reluctant to look at trimming the $27 billion annual cost of operating and maintaining our bloated Cold War nuclear arsenal and the $125 billion planned for building new weapons in the decade ahead.
  • Nuclear Policies Clash in Defense Bills
    Arms Control Today
    July 7, 2011

    The Democratic-led Senate Armed Services Committee passed its version of the fiscal year 2012 defense authorization bill on June 16, setting up a tug-of-war over nuclear weapons policy with the Republican-led House of Representatives, which passed its version May 26.
  • Pentagon to Revise Nuclear Guidance
    Arms Control Today
    June 2, 2011

    The Pentagon will provide options to President Barack Obama for future nuclear reductions below New START levels and for policy changes in areas such as targeting, prompt-launch alert posture, and retention of the nuclear “triad.”
  • Oldthink on New Nuclear Reductions
    Arms Control Today
    May 31, 2011

    After months of review and debate, a bipartisan Senate majority approved the resolution of ratification for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) on Dec. 22, 2010. But now, Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) and the leading critic of New START in the Senate, Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), are trying to rewrite New START policies and understandings approved only six months ago.
  • Trimming Nuclear Excess
    Arms Control Today
    April 27, 2011

    In the 20 years since the end of the Cold War, successive U.S. and Russian presidents have gradually reduced the size and salience of their enormous nuclear stockpiles. Nevertheless, the size of each country’s arsenal far exceeds what might be considered necessary to deter nuclear attack. Both sides can and should go lower.
  • The Stockpile’s Steward: An Interview With NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino
    Arms Control Today
    April 4, 2011

    The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration talks about the NNSA’s nuclear weapons and nonproliferation work, covering a range of topics that includes plutonium pit production, warhead life extension programs, scaled experiments, plutonium disposition, and efforts to reduce and secure vulnerable nuclear materials at civilian sites around the world.