Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
1/16/2015
U.S. Strategic Command chief Adm. Cecil Haney will meet later this month with commanders and stakeholders who support the Nuclear Enterprise to discuss investment and progress of the Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3) apparatus, Haney said this week. Hours later in her State of the Air Force Pentagon speech, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said NC3 was one of the Air Force’s top five goals, which aligns with STRATCOM officials’ recently voiced priorities of NC3 as a top modernization priority.
During a Jan. 15 event at the Atlantic Council in Washington titled “Strategic Deterrence in the Twenty-First Century,” Haney said he has recently instituted “a few things” within his command, including regular “stakeholder reviews” aimed at facilitating “an operational to a headquarters, if you will, kind of discussion, soup to nuts, on a particular area, whether that’s submarines, intercontinental ballistic missiles, or bombers,” he said. In the “near future,” Haney said the stakeholder review group will also meet to discuss STRATCOM’s sensor capability. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel commissioned two recent reviews of the Nuclear Enterprise—one external and one internal—which identified shortcomings and directed cultural and resource-related changes within nuclear forces.
‘Battle Rhythm’ Established
The stakeholder reviews are part of a series of organizational changes within the nuclear forces, including the larger recently formed Defense Department body, the Nuclear Deterrent Enterprise Review Group (NDERG), which meets quarterly and is chaired by Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work. One philosophy underlying the regular meetings is establishing a “battle rhythm” engendered by officials and stakeholders meeting at “good periodicity” for necessary, frank discussions about readiness and modernization investments, Haney said. He added that considerations of airmen’s needs are a centerpiece of the discussions.
The regular meetings are geared toward examining those issues in the context of needs that airmen have voiced to their leaders, Haney said. The upcoming stakeholder review meetings will be done “in a battle rhythm kind of way, so that we’re continuing to have that piece looked at, in addition to our visits to these places, at a variety of different levels so that we can really get the heartbeat of those warriors that are doing the mission day in and day out for us, and ensure we’re not missing something,” he said. “Because we’ve done these reviews doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still continue to look for process improvements and things to ensure that we can continue to have, as we have today, a safe, secure and effective strategic nuclear arsenal.”
Aging Weapons Need Modernization
Weeks ahead of President Barack Obama’s Feb. 2 budget proposal to Congress, Haney echoed a chorus of STRATCOM officials who have urged for modernization of the aging U.S. nuclear arsenal despite astronomical national debt. “With a national debt today that is more than $18 trillion, I’m mindful that some of our most pressing costs are associated with modernizing and recapitalizing our strategic deterrents,” he said. “That means getting our investment strategy right for the long term because we have sustained many of our current capabilities much longer than originally planned.” He pointed to the Minuteman 3s fielded in the 1970s, the extension of Ohio-class submarines from 30 to 40 years of service and the more than 50-year-old age of the newest B-52s, among other weapons. “Some of our warhead infrastructures have been around since World War II,” he said. “And our stockpile is the oldest it’s ever been with an average age of over 27 years. Our nation faces a substantial multi-decade recapitalization challenge. And we must continue investments toward that … effort.”
Other Countries’ Capabilities
Russia’s ongoing 10-plus years of nuclear modernization, its strategic bombers’ recent penetrations of U.S. and allied air defense identification zones, plus reported Chinese modernizations of silo-based ICBMs, MIRVed road-mobile missiles and development of ballistic missile submarines are examples of nuclear modernization in two countries that the U.S. must respond to, Haney said. “We must get this right,” he said. “As we reduce the number of launchers and warheads under the New START treaty, the value of each remaining element of our nuclear deterrent becomes even more important while at the same time facilitating the norms set by the Nonproliferation Treaty. This is not just capability but a whole-of-government approach that requires our attention and the necessary resources. This is why I believe the Nuclear Deterrent Enterprise Review Group that Secretary Hagel established is so important to keeping the focus and balance of effort to support our nation’s strategic deterrent.”
