Not Chump Change

The Obama Administration has told Congress that the US intends to invest more than $180 billion over the next decade in the nuclear weapons arsenal and supporting infrastructure. Of that, “well over $100 billion” would go toward nuclear delivery systems “to sustain existing capabilities and modernize some strategic systems,” while $80 billion would be applied “to sustain and modernize the nuclear weapons complex,” according to the White House. President Obama released these figures on May 13 in a classified report sent to Congress accompanying the New START Treaty with Russia. Obama would like the Senate to ratify New START by year’s end. Many Senators have coupled its ratification with the Administration having an articulate and properly funded nuclear modernization plan. The report, mandated by Congress, lays out that plan and also presents the nation’s new reduced nuclear force structure (see Fewer Nuclear Bombers, ICBMs above). (White House fact sheet)