March 17, 2014

KEHLER: U.S. NEEDS TO ‘CONTROL OUR APPETITES’ ON MODERNIZATION

By ExchangeMonitor

Gen. Robert Kehler, the outgoing head of U.S. Strategic Command, said the nation needs to “control our appetites” as budget belt-tightening encroaches on efforts to modernize the nation’s nuclear deterrent. Speaking at the “Sustaining the Triad Conference” at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay (Ga.) Friday, Kehler emphasized—as he has during his three-year tenure at StratCom—the need to continue to modernize the nuclear stockpile, weapons complex and triad of delivery vehicles, but his comments appeared to serve as a warning toward the weapons complex not to overreach on its modernization wish list. "The nuclear deterrent “has provided excellent return on investment over the years but … from a financial perspective we find ourselves in a bad place at the worst possible time,” Kehler said. “Recapitalization is needed just as budgets are likely to decline dramatically. Sequestration threatens to impact readiness. This is clearly a question of national priorities but it’s also a question of fiscal realities. It’s up to us to work to carefully structure and phase the modernization efforts, to refine our requirements and control our appetites.”

The cost of modernizing the nuclear deterrent, from a new Ohio class submarine and new bomber to expensive new warhead life extension programs, is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars in the coming decades, drawing criticism from anti-nuclear activists and questions from Congress. Kehler noted that “all aspects of these programs are under discussion. The Secretary of Defense has very tough choices to make in the very near future.” However, despite the financial pressure that is likely to face the modernization efforts, Kehler said that “doesn’t mean we back off any of the fundamental requirements that we have for the nuclear deterrent. I think the three great attributes [of the triad] still remain fundamental requirements: we need forces that are survivable, we need forces that are responsive, we need forces that are flexible. But what we’ve discovered in acquisition efforts over the last 10 years is that sometimes we’re not as precise in stating our requirements as we need to be. We can’t have requirements that change, that drift. We need to be very focused I think on the things we absolutely have to have and the way we have to have it and we need to proceed with the efforts to produce it.” Kehler will formally turn over the reins at StratCom to Adm. Cecil Haney on Friday.

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