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GAO Report on U.S. Nuclear Triad
May 7, 2021 6:12 AM
The following is the May 6, 2021 Government Accountability Office report, Nuclear Triad: DoD and DoE Face Challenges Mitigating Risks to U.S. Deterrence Efforts.
From the report
What GAO Found
The Department of Defense (DOD) plans to replace or modernize existing triad platforms including submarines, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and bomber aircraft, as well as many of the nuclear command, control, and communication systems that facilitate control of them (see below). The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to modernize its nuclear infrastructure to life extend and produce warheads and bombs. DOD will be challenged to meet some U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) operational needs with existing triad systems, shown below, through the end of their service lives. DOD must manage shortfalls in quantities of systems that it can field and capability limitations that reduce effectiveness of these systems. For exampl
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email At House Hearing, Defense Appropriators Discuss Everything But the Budget
The Biden administration has yet to submit a 2022 budget request, limiting Congress’ ability to oversee defense spending. May 7, 2021
When U.S. Air Force and Space Force leaders testified before a House appropriations subcommittee on Friday on their 2022 budget requests, only a single question about actual program costs was asked.
The lawmakers didn’t probe more because there’s still no official budget request from the Biden administration to question. Instead, the defense appropriations subcommittee focused on policy which is more often the purview of their House Armed Services Committee colleagues.
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The
B-21 Raider, the Air Force’s new bomber now in development, will have as much in common with its Cold War-era predecessors B-1/B-2/B-52 bombers as the F-35 Lightning II has in common with its World War II-era predecessor P-38 Lightning.
For example, the B-21 represents a significant step forward over the 30-year-old B-2 Spirit, as the B-21 is being designed by Northrop Grumman (who also built the B-2) to survive against the most advanced modern air defense systems such as Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system and China’s J-20 stealth fighter, which entered service in 2017.
The B-21 will be a marvel of contemporary manufacturing that takes advantage of the latest digital capabilities to improve design, manufacturing, and support. Digital development is a new direction in procurement for the Air Force and the Defense Department writ large.
Military-Industrial Complex Exerts Powerful Influence on Bidenâs Foreign Policy
President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C, February 10, 2021.
Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images
By
Given how progressive many of the initial Biden administration domestic policy actions have been, its foreign policy seems incongruous to some. This apparent contradiction becomes easier to understand by recognizing the critical role played by the military-industrial complex (MIC) in shaping foreign policy.
Many commentators have pointed out that Bidenâs foreign policy appointments come from the Obama administration, and reflect a Democratic old guard. This group was intimately tied to the MIC and there is little evidence that these ties have been severed. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was deputy secretary and national security adviser under Obama, a supporter of the Iraq War and a China hardliner. After Obama, he led a firm that consulted with top milit