STRATCOM CHIEF: U.S. CAN ‘ILL AFFORD’ TO NOT MODERNIZE NUKE DETERRENT

摘要

Even in a tight budgetary environment, the United States can “ill afford” to not modernize its nuclear deterrent,rnthe head of United States Strategic Command told the House Armed Services Committee this week. Adm. CecilrnHaney made his first appearance before the panel after taking over as StratCom commander late last year, andrnargued that spending on modernizing the nation’s nuclear delivery vehicles, weapons complex and nuclearrnstockpile should double in the future as modernization efforts go into full swing. He noted that nuclear weaponsrnspending is currently about 2.5 percent of the defense budget, but he suggested that it will need to double tornmake for needed work to maintain the nuclear deterrent. “It’s an investment, for my opinion, that we as a countryrncan ill afford not to make, given the modernization that we see going on in other countries in the strategicrnenvironment today,” Haney said during the April 2 hearing.