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Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies (CUWS) Outreach Journal Issue 1306

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Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies (CUWS) Outreach Journal Issue 1306 Issue No. 1306 16 March 2018 // USAFCUWS Outreach Journal Issue 1306 // Feature Report “U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues”. Written by Amy F. Woolf. Published by the Congressional Research Service; March 6, 2018 https://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL33640.pdf This report reviews the ongoing programs that will affect the expected size and shape of the U.S. strategic nuclear force structure. It begins with an overview of this force structure during the Cold War, and summarizes the reductions and changes that have occurred since 1991. It then offers details about each category of delivery vehicle—land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and heavy bombers—focusing on their current deployments and ongoing and planned modernization programs. The report concludes with a discussion of issues related to decisions about the future size and shape of the U.S. strategic nuclear force. twitter.com/USAF_CUWS | cuws.au.af.mil // 2 // USAFCUWS Outreach Journal Issue 1306 // TABLE OF CONTENTS US NUCLEAR WEAPONS National Nuclear Security Administration Chief Tours Savannah River Site on Friday Cost of New Nuclear Subs is 'Eye Watering,' Navy Secretary Says Nuclear Weapons Program Bogged Down by Distrust between Energy Department and Pentagon, Report Says US COUNTER-WMD Missile Defense Agency Awards Lockheed Martin Contract to Build Missile Defense Targets Space-Based Sensors Needed For Missile Defense Vs. Hypersonics: MDA Common Bricks May Record Evidence of Nuclear Weapons US ARMS CONTROL Middle East Media Reacts: Gulf Arabs Praise Tillerson Firing While Iran Weighs Nuclear Deal Pentagon Head Warns Syrian Forces on Use of Chemical Weapons North Korea Nuclear Deal Would Require Major US Concession Too ASIA/PACIFIC Moon on a Mission: South Korea's New Approach to the North North Korea to Seek Peace Treaty with US at Trump Meeting: Report Reactivation of Plutonium Plant Brings Kim’s Overture into Question Japan Sees No Impact from Tillerson Exit on North Korea Policy EUROPE/RUSSIA EU Admits to ‘Secret’ Talks with North Korea for Last Three Years to End Nuclear Programme UK Envoy Says Russia Failed to Fully Declare Nerve Agent Stocks Russia Releases Footage of New 'Kinzhal' Nuclear-Capable Air-Launched Missile Lockheed Martin Syracuse Will Add Jobs after Landing German Missile Defense Deal MIDDLE EAST Elections Take Back Seat to Nuclearized Middle East at Cabinet Meeting COMMENTARY Who Killed the Dugway Sheep? Why It Matters Fifty Years Later What Does Trump Mean When Alluding to a North Korean 'Missile Test' Freeze? How Trump’s Disdain for the Iran Deal Makes a North Korea Pact Even Harder Mikhail Gorbachev: The U.S. and Russia Must Stop the Race to Nuclear War twitter.com/USAF_CUWS | cuws.au.af.mil // 3 // USAFCUWS Outreach Journal Issue 1306 // US NUCLEAR WEAPONS Aiken Standard (Aiken, S.C.) National Nuclear Security Administration Chief Tours Savannah River Site on Friday By Colin Demarest March 9, 2018 The woman heading up the upkeep, security and advancement of the nation's nuclear weapons complex toured the Savannah River Site on Friday. Lisa Gordon-Hagerty – who was sworn in Feb. 22 as the U.S. Department of Energy's under secretary for nuclear security and the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration – visited several SRS facilities and introduced herself to employees and local officials. "I promised Sen. Lindsey Graham during my confirmation hearing that I would visit the Savannah River Site to become fully acquainted with this community," she said in a prepared statement, "and I'm happy to be here today to fulfill that promise." Gordon-Hagerty was accompanied by U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga. The NNSA administrator said SRS's workforce is "world-class." Gordon-Hagerty specifically toured the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility – the currently 70- percent complete, billions-over-budget plutonium processing plant – and K-Area, an interim plutonium storage complex. K-Area is the target of a potential $60 million injection related to plutonium disposition, according to DOE fiscal year 2019 budget request documents. The money, if appropriated, would fund the pursuit of downblending, a MOX alternative that involves mixing plutonium with inert material and burying it elsewhere. The DOE fiscal year 2019 budget request moves to terminate MOX. Gordon-Hagerty has said she is a supporter of downblending – also known as dilute-and-dispose. In February, during a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Gordon-Hagerty said she is anti- MOX. This became a major point of contention. A visit-related press release states Gordon-Hagerty was involved in a "discussion on the dilute and dispose option" on Friday. Gordon-Hagerty is one of three high-profile SRS visitors in the past two months: U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry spent two days at SRS at the beginning of February, and DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar toured last week. Gordon-Hagerty's visit on Friday comes at an opportune time. The NNSA is currently debating where to conduct its industrial-scale plutonium pit production mission: Los Alamos National Laboratory, where it's been for some time; or SRS, where it could repurpose the MOX building or require a new structure, according to the NNSA. Pits are grapefruit-sized nuclear weapon triggers. During her confirmation hearings, Gordon-Hagerty said jolting pit production back to life – no weapons-usable pits have been produced since 2011 – is her "No. 1 priority." twitter.com/USAF_CUWS | cuws.au.af.mil // 4 // USAFCUWS Outreach Journal Issue 1306 // "We do need to have a robust program to ensure that we can make pits, more reserve pits," Gordon- Hagerty said. https://www.aikenstandard.com/news/national-nuclear-security-administration-chief-tours- savannah-river-site-on/article_2a8ea16e-23e3-11e8-b168-27ea7c46afd9.html Return to top Washington Examiner (Washington, D.C.) Cost of New Nuclear Subs is 'Eye Watering,' Navy Secretary Says By Travis J. Tritten March 12, 2018 A new Columbia-class nuclear submarine currently under development will likely end up costing taxpayers an “eye-watering” $100 billion over the program’s lifetime, Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said on Monday. Spencer and the secretaries of the Air Force and Army discussed the challenge and high costs of modernizing the U.S. nuclear triad during a rare public gathering together at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. The Trump administration has recently completed a review of its nuclear forces and the Congressional Budget Office found last year that it will cost $1.2 trillion over 30 years to modernize the Cold War-era triad. “All of sudden you’re talking about the submarines and there is a number that will make your eyes water. Columbia will be a $100 billion program for its lifetime. We have to do it. I think we have to have big discussions about it.” The triad is made up of a Navy submarine fleet, ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombers and is designed to deter a strike from other nuclear powers, particularly Russia. Last week, Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, touted the power of the U.S. submarines, saying Russia and China “do not know where they are and they have the ability to decimate their country if we go down that path.” Even with a coming budget hike, the Navy is still looking for a viable plan and the funding to increase its fleet to 355 ships. It has already made advanced plans to buy the Columbia-class ballistic missile subs to replace the Ohio-class that now form that leg of the triad. “The underwater aspect to date does seem to be the most elusive [to adversaries] but it comes with a price,” Spencer said. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said she “faces the same challenge” with her service, which manages the U.S. ground-based nuclear missiles and bomber fleet. “We are modernizing all three legs of the triad and the nuclear command-and-control at the same time in both the Navy and the Air Force. It’s a challenge,” Wilson said. The Air Force will be doing modernization and engineering work over the next five years to update its legs of the triad but over the next decade big investments will be needed, she said. “The nation is going to have to make the decision on the actual purchase of these systems within this 10-year window,” Wilson said. twitter.com/USAF_CUWS | cuws.au.af.mil // 5 // USAFCUWS Outreach Journal Issue 1306 // As the country weighs the costs, it should also consider investing in other ways to head off a nuclear conflict, Army Secretary Mark Esper said. “Many of us grew up with the triad as part of the Cold War but we have a new capability these days that provides the president more options and creates its own deterrence and that is missile defense,” he said. Congress approved over $4 billion in supplemental missile defense spending at the end of last year and that area of defense seems in line for more increases in the upcoming Pentagon budget. Former Virginia Sen. John Warner, who also served as Navy secretary, attended the CSIS event and warned that the U.S. nuclear deterrent has a growing strategic problem. He said the Trump administration secretaries should consider greater emphasis on the submarine component, which has the highest invulnerability. “It is in stone that we have it and we shall always have it. We’ve got to begin to make tough decisions on the various allocations between air-sea, sub-sea and land,” Warner said. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/cost-of-new-nuclear- subs-is-eye-watering-navy-secretary-says Return to top Washington Examiner (Washington, D.C.) Nuclear Weapons Program Bogged Down by Distrust between Energy Department and Pentagon, Report Says By John Siciliano March 13, 2018 President Trump faces a nuclear weapons program rife with distrust between the Energy Department and Pentagon as he pushes for a new and improved nuclear weapons arsenal, according to a study by the National Academies of Sciences issued Tuesday.
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