Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
12/5/2014
Robert Scher, the Obama Administration’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities, will attend a second confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee Dec. 8, after some senators requested additional time to ask questions after the first hearing this week. Next week’s hearing will fall six days after Scher’s first day of SASC testimony, during which he signaled support for nuclear modernization and fixing the problems found in recent reviews of the nuclear enterprise. “[W]e have spent a lot of time working to ensure we understand the needs of the defense nuclear enterprise and actually are funding it at a rate that is that we think will make sure that we can preserve the modernization of it and fix some of the problems that were found in the multiple reviews,” Scher said, responding to a question by SASC Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.).
Bilateral Disarmament Negotiations
In advance policy questions, Scher stated he would support further U.S.-Russia nuclear force reductions under New START, and that the U.S. could ensure allies’ safety by pursuing reductions of one-third below New START levels. During SASC questioning on Dec. 2, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said Scher’s viewpoint on disarmament “worries” her, in light of Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty and “invasion” of Ukraine. In response, Scher said bilateral cooperation is the “key” to any U.S. nuclear reduction beyond New START levels. “I believe that that is a critical part to looking at how we could achieve our operational ends,” Scher said. Ayotte also expressed concern about DoD moving to negotiate with Russia without seeking a go-ahead from Congress. “And I would hope that any—if there were ever a move in that direction again, that you would also seek congressional approval,” Ayotte said. “And I might add, too, you know, obviously I don’t think we could trust negotiating with the Russians right now. The administration would never, at this point, in light of their behavior, think about going down that road.”
Earlier in the hearing, Scher signaled a generally parallel stance to existing Obama Administration policy on disarmament approaches with Russia. While Scher said the U.S. aims to reduce to New START levels by early 2018, he reiterated the Administration would not seek further reductions without Russian cooperation. “And right now it’s hard to imagine that we are in that situation where we can talk to the Russians about that kind of work,” he said.
Implementation Should Be Done in ‘Cost-Efficient Manner’
Asked in advance policy questions what he anticipated would be the “most serious problems” he would undertake in his nominated position, Scher stated that he was “concerned” about implementing the necessary policies and strategies in a “cost-efficient manner.” Responding to a question posed by Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and echoing notions voiced by many Defense Department officials, Scher pointed to the small proportion of the overall defense budget that nuclear weapons occupy, and highlighted the need to invest in the previously neglected nuclear enterprise. “It is an expensive undertaking; in the broad scheme of the Department of Defense budget it is not a huge percentage,” Scher said. “And importantly, and the [defense] secretary and the deputy [defense] secretary have been very clear, this is a No. 1 priority for them. The nuclear enterprise, as we have seen with the reviews that were conducted, both the internal and the external review, we clearly see that we have underperformed in the nuclear enterprise. It remains safe, secure and effective, but in order to continue that we need to make sure that we invest in the DoD nuclear enterprise as well as the modernization….But importantly I’d note it is money that is not coming out of future modernization, but it’s coming out from other parts of the Department of Defense budget because we recognize the important of continuing to modernize the nuclear enterprise in DoD.”
New Position Result of Office of Policy Reorganization
Scher, who currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Plans, would slide into a position whose responsibilities include formulating nuclear and missile defense policy, a responsibility that Madelyn Creedon—currently Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration—previously held as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs. The nominated position was created as part of a reorganization of DoD’s Office of Policy, a move that has generated concern among some members of Congress. The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed by the House Dec. 2, includes a provision requiring the Defense Secretary to update congressional defense committees on Defense Department management of the nuclear enterprise. According to the joint explanatory statement accompanying the bill, lawmakers are concerned the reorganization would yield less senior-level attention to nuclear forces, deterrence, nonproliferation and terrorism, and the language was added to the bill to “to avoid a repeat of past mistakes, such as at Minot Air Force Base in 2007.” Unlike Creedon’s prior position, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities will not focus on countering weapons of mass destruction, cyber policy and space policy, duties which are moving under the new Homeland Defense directorate.
