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Strategic Policy

  • U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces Under New START
    Fact Sheets & Briefs
    April 4, 2013

    April 2013
  • Administration Poised to Trim Costly Nuclear Weapons Excess
    Issue Briefs
    February 8, 2013

    According to a new report published today by the Center for Public Integrity, the Barack Obama administration has determined that the United States can further reduce its nuclear force while maintaining a strong deterrent against any threat. The report cites administration sources who say the reductions will not occur immediately nor would they be undertaken unilaterally, but they suggest the administration will seek to pursue deeper nuclear arms cuts in tandem with Russia.
  • Obama’s Second Chance
    Arms Control Today
    January 14, 2013

    In a dramatic speech in Prague less than 100 days after his 2009 inauguration, President Barack Obama warned that “the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up. More nations have acquired these weapons. Testing has continued. The technology to build a bomb has spread.”
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Groups Call On White House To Update Outdated Nuclear Policy
    Press Room
    May 14, 2012

    (WASHINGTON, D.C.)—Representatives of various groups advocating nuclear arms reductions, presented a petition with over 50,000 signatures to the White House. The appeal--circulated between February and April--urges President Obama to reduce the role and number of nuclear weapons as he makes a once-in-a-decade decision on Presidential nuclear weapons policy “guidance.”
  • More Money for Yesterday's Weapons?
    Issue Briefs
    May 8, 2012

    Volume 3, Issue 7, May 8, 2012

    Tomorrow, the House Armed Services Committee is scheduled to approve its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2013 defense authorization bill. Committee chair Buck McKeon (R-Cal.) and strategic forces chair Michael Turner (R-Ohio) are expected to add $3.7 billion more than the Defense Department requested. This includes hundreds of millions of dollars for nuclear weapons and missile defense programs that the military does not want and the nation cannot afford.