Several Democratic members of the House of Representatives have sent a letter to President Barack Obama encouraging him to use his final months in office to reduce the risk of miscalculation and inadvertent nuclear war, parallel to a similar letter sent last week by Senate Democrats.
The July 20 letter, signed by Democratic Reps. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Adam Smith (Wash.), Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), Loretta Sanchez (Calif.), and Jackie Speier (Calif.), commended Obama on negotiating the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, retiring submarine-launched nuclear cruise missiles, hosting four Nuclear Security Summits, and containing Iran’s nuclear program through a multilateral deal with the Middle Eastern state.
Calling for policies that would decrease the likelihood of accidental nuclear-weapon use and war, the letter encouraged adoption of a no-first-use declaratory policy for nuclear weapons, along with cancellation of a launch-on-warning nuclear posture.
The letter also said that while the United States should retain its nuclear arsenal, “we believe that this [nuclear] modernization plan . . . may be neither affordable, executable, nor advisable.” Instead of new nuclear weapons investments, the letter recommended reducing the number of warheads the U.S. holds in reserve; “the United States does not need to retain nearly 5,000 nuclear weapons in order to possess a strong, reliable, and effective nuclear deterrent,” it said.
Officials estimate that modernizing the nuclear enterprise will cost approximately $1 trillion over 30 years, with costs peaking in the mid-2020s.
Last week, a group of Democratic Party senators urged the president to take similar steps, calling for adoption of a no-first-use policy and cancellation of launch-on warning authorization. The Senate letter also called for canceling the new Long-Range Standoff nuclear cruise missile – something notably missing from the House letter.
Obama’s last day in office is Jan. 20, 2017.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of 13 senators earlier this month sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter asking him to reaffirm the Pentagon’s commitment to nuclear modernization.
