Congress Sees Savings from Nuclear Weapons Budgets

On the radar: 64 members of Congress call for cuts; Markey press event at noon; Global Zero at Reagan Library; Gorbachev on Reykjavik; Nukes vs military priorities; Romney still wrong on New START; Huntsman on preventative war; Iran deal meets domestic politics; and Safety first, then disarmament for DPRK.

October 11, 2011 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Mary Kaszynski

The nuclear cut at the deficit - “The Cold War ended. Yet 20 years later, we continue to spend more than $50 billion a year on an excessive nuclear arsenal. This makes no sense. The Soviets are long gone, yet the stockpiles remain. These funds are a drain on our budget and a disservice to the next generation of Americans,” writes Rep. Markey (D-MA) in Politico.

--”The congressional supercommittee was established to make recommendations for at least $1.2 trillion in cuts to our federal deficit...Our outdated bombs must serve as the “nuclear option” — we can cut at least $20 billion per year from the $50 billion nuclear weapons budget, or $200 billion over the next 10 years,” writes Rep. Markey.

”Already, 64 House members have signed on to support this nuclear option.” http://owl.li/6TCWm

Markey Event - Press conference calling on the Super Committee to make cuts from the U.S. nuclear weapons budget, featuring Rep. Markey, Lt. Gen. Robert Gard Jr., Joe Cirincione, and Ron Pollack.

--Where & When: House Triangle, U.S. Capitol today (Tues. Oct. 11) @ noon. http://owl.li/6TCMf

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Global Zero conference - 25 years ago in Reykjavik, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev almost reached an agreement to eliminate their nations’ nuclear arsenals. Global Zero is commemorating the Reykjavik summit with a conference at the Reagan Library, featuring former secretaries of State George Shultz and James Baker, that will call for multilateral talks aimed at the elimination of nuclear weapons by 2030. http://owl.li/6TCUX

Reykjavik reflection - ”Even though we failed to achieve our highest aspirations in Reykjavik, the summit was nonetheless, in the words of my former counterpart, ‘a major turning point in the quest for a safer and secure world.’ The next few years may well determine if our shared dream of ridding the world of nuclear weapons will ever be realized,” writes Mikhail Gorbachev. http://owl.li/6TCU2

Not everyone agrees on nuclear cuts - “Not surprisingly, long-overdue investments in our aging and deteriorating nuclear capabilities and infrastructure — essential to maintaining a reliable and effective nuclear deterrent — are now on the chopping block as the military services seek to protect ‘usable’ non-nuclear systems at the expense of ‘unusable’ nuclear ones,” writes David Trachtenberg in the NRO.

--“There is less appetite to spend billions of dollars on nuclear weapons in an era of severe budget austerity and scarce resources,” he writes. Drawing the opposite conclusion of Rep. Markey and the 63 co-signers of his letter, Trachtenberg advocates ponying up the funds for nuclear weapons lest reduced budgets undermine nuclear deterrence. http://owl.li/6TCST

Tweet - @nukes_of_hazard: “On New START, Romney white paper continues to defy advice of military and raise same discredited objections. He’s wrong: bit.ly/mPsmKJ”

Huntsman flirts with war - “I cannot live with a nuclear-armed Iran. If you want an example of when I would use American force, it would be that," said Jon Huntsman in a foreign policy speech. http://owl.li/6TCI0

--EW Editors’ note: As a Stimson Center-USIP report said, such an attack “would cement Iran's determination to acquire nuclear weapons, likely end the prospects for a democratic revival in Iran indefinitely, and result in significant military, political, and economic harm to the US and its allies.” Hat tip to Heather Hurlburt at Democracy Arsenal. http://owl.li/6TCG6

Dealing with Iran - “Experts say US should agree to the sale of medium-enriched uranium to Iran in return for a halt to Iranian production, but such a deal could be politically fraught for the Obama administration,” writes Julian Borger in The Guardian.

--If current trends with Iran continue, Borger argues, “the administration will be under increasingly heavy international pressure to take the [political] risk.” http://owl.li/6TCEj

Nuclear safety and disarmament - “Allies should know that the goal of any U.S. negotiations remains complete and irreversible dismantlement of all nuclear weapons and related programs,” writes Victor Cha. “But not engaging in a pragmatic manner on nuclear safety and deterrence could spell disaster as U.S. diplomats negotiate endlessly on the same intractable issues that have plagued our pursuit of Pyongyang’s weapons programs for 25 years.” http://owl.li/6TCCU