As part of its plan to lower the cost for defense, President Barack Obama’s administration is considering various options to reduce our arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Currently we have about 1,500 warheads of various shapes and sizes in that arsenal. The Department of Defense is considering lowering that number to about 400 warheads.
U.S. Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, calls such drastic reduction “reckless lunacy.” Other options include limiting warheads to about 1,100 or limiting them to about 800. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta indicates that no decisions have yet been made.
The debate, becoming very partisan and heated and sure to flow into campaign rhetoric, is over the wrong numbers. The real cost of any nuclear arsenal is in the platforms and personnel that are capable of launching the warheads, not the cost of the warheads themselves. Guns are much more expensive than bullets, and we seem to be arguing over the number of bullets to have on hand.
The real cost of nuclear deterrence, which is the only reason we maintain a nuclear arsenal, is the combined cost of people, highly trained and screened people, weapons systems/platforms and warheads. What the country must decide is how many people, platforms and warheads are needed to deter a nuclear attack against America or places elsewhere in the world.
More specifically, how many B-2 bombers, Trident submarines and land-based missiles are needed. That is where the big bucks are spent, as well as on the people needed to maintain an alert status at all times.
Despite everyone’s desire to never again consider the use of nuclear weapons, the world in not yet at that point. Credible nuclear deterrence remains the single most important element of our defense posture.
Unilaterally tinkering with that arsenal without serious negotiations with others is dangerous as well. Upsetting the balance could invite disaster of the worst sort, in our view.
Opinion
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