REP. ROGERS OUTLINES OPPOSITION TO POTENTIAL STOCKPILE REDUCTIONS

Suggesting that modernization plans for the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal were in “grave danger,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, said yesterday that he would oppose any efforts by the Obama Administration to reduce the size of the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Rogers, in his first year as the chairman of the subcommittee, appears to have picked up the mantle of former chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who was a staunch opponent of further reductions to the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Speaking at the Capitol Hill Club yesterday, Rogers said the potential for reductions was “deeply concerning given the sorry state of the nuclear modernization commitments made” under the New START Treaty with Russia, citing delays in several warhead life extension programs like the B61 and W78/W88 as well as the deferral of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility. “As the stockpile shrinks in size we have reached a point where further reductions take on immense importance to the nation’s security and international stability,” he said. He later added, “The President can send [National Security Advisor Tom] Donilon over to Russia if he wants to talk about disarmament but it takes money to close or move capability and I’m not going to provide the authorization for any money to be spent on reducing anything in our capability unless the President can assure us and our allies that it’s appropriate.”