Posted on 01/31/2009 8:46:56 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
President Barack Obama has set a goal of a "world without nuclear weapons" but the Pentagon is leaning in a seemingly contradictory direction: a modernised nuclear arsenal.
The new administration has signalled its intent to swiftly engage Russia in negotiations on deeper cuts in their respective arsenals, with the ultimate aim of reducing them to zero.
But US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been leading another kind of charge, arguing in the final months of the previous administration that deeper cuts must be underpinned by production of a new warhead to replace an ageing nuclear stockpile.
"To be blunt, there is absolutely no way we can maintain a credible deterrent and reduce the number of weapons in our stockpile without either resorting to testing our stockpile or pursuing a modernisation program," he said in an October 28 speech.
Gates' speech at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, says Jan Kristensen, an analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, was "an attempt to set a bottom line."
In Kristensen's view, the secretary's message was:
"You can cut the numbers, but below that we need to have a strong capability, not only to maintain what we have, but also to build up if we need to."
Kristensen added: "That is the big clash."
Gates is not alone in his thinking.
General Kevin Chilton, head of the US Strategic Command, warns that the United States is "living today off the largesse of an industrial base and a concept that was developed to support the Cold War which is many years in the rear view mirror right now."
A Pentagon advisory panel led by former defense secretary James Schlesinger warned this month of a weakening US deterrent.
On the other hand, former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former defense secretary William Perry and former Senator Sam Nunn say that nuclear weapons are increasingly ineffective as a deterrent.
They called for a "world free of nuclear weapons" in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece two years ago.
The debate is likely to intensify over the next year as the new administration reviews the US nuclear posture.
A bipartisan commission appointed by Congress is expected to weigh in April, and the Pentagon will undertake its own review later this year.
The White House has already staked out its position, declaring on its website that "Obama and (Vice President Joe) Biden will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and pursue it."
They will stop production of new nuclear weapons, seek agreement with Russia to take missiles off hair trigger alert, and seek "dramatic reductions" in their respective arsenals, it said.
But, it also said, "Obama and Biden will always maintain a strong deterrent as long as nuclear weapons exist."
Proponents of modernization argue that as weapons in the existing stockpile age, doubts about their safety and reliability will inevitably grow, thereby lessening their deterrent value.
They want Congress to fund the production of a new so-called "Reliable Replacement Warhead," which would incorporate safety features in its design to prevent accidental detonation or unauthorized use.
The Congress, however, has been skeptical of the need for the RRW. Studies have shown no decline in the safety or reliability of the existing arsenal, and programs currently exist to extend their shelf life.
But Iran PROMISED they would give up their nukes!
I fear Gates won’t even make it through the year.
I agree. He must have taken this job knowing it would not end well...bascially in a very public stand-off between common sense (his views) and crazy radicalism. Maybe he figured he will be able to see out success for a longer period of time in Iraq/Afghanistan, and try to carry on some level of reality at the Pentagon with the job, rather than turning it over to the nuts now.
If you’re right...he is truly a patriot.
The “fairness doctrine” is really the “hush Rush” law, and this scheme is really the “disarm America” ploy.
The world wondered about the sanity of Ronald Reagan and we saw how Iran let our hostages go the very day the Gipper was in a position to rain down nukes on their heads.
Boy, these people just never learn from history. The minute we dismantle our nukes, our major cities will become glass parking lots. You know that Russia and China are salivating over this.
I don’t know that they’ll become glass parking lots. However, we will become the bitch of anyone (superpower or tinpot dictator) with nuclear weapons. This is not a hard concept to understand — if you want peace, be prepared for war.
I think that Gates stayed in to protect the troops for as long as possible and to try to make sure that the WOT ends in some sort of success. Westley Clark will be Gates replacement in May of 2010, with someone filling in the interim should Gates not make it until that time.
This may not be the Age Of Aquarius, but it sure feels like it.
It also feels like the Age Of The End...
I had stated when the chosen one kept Gates on that I felt, and still do, that the only reason Gates stayed was to put himself as a buffer between the chosen one and the military. He knows that the chosen ones idea that the road to peace can only come after the complete dismanteling of our military.
“The White House has already staked out its position, declaring on its website that “Obama and (Vice President Joe) Biden will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and pursue it.””
Fantasy!!
Special Report: New Nukes Are Good Nukes?
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=new-nukes-are-good-nukes
Article seems to take an anti-nuke spin but provides technical facts related to this issue.
You have got to be kidding me!!! This is beyond stupid. It is insane.
First, the anti-war, peace, love hippies from the 60s come back to haunt us and now the anti-nuke, peace, love hippies from the 70s and 80s are back.
The world has been free from world wars for the past 60 years ONLY because of the nuclear deterrent.
We will be damn lucky if we survive until 2012 and replace this idiot and his comrades.
No nukes... the goal of every seven year old.
By the time you’re an adult, you know why we need them.
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