Any major cuts to the program could cause concern among hawkish Republicans and perhaps some Democrats who believe the expansion of America’s nuclear program is critical to U.S. national security, especially since the clock is ticking. run out of a Cold War-era nuclear deal with Moscow, which expires just 16 days after Biden took office.
Biden plans to revisit the more than $ 1 trillion nuclear upgrade program and examine whether new weapons development deserves the first introduction, all three sources told CNN. In particular, Biden and his top advisers will look at whether to reduce Pentagon spending in the overall nuclear modernization strategy and will seek to reverse the Trump administration’s efforts to unleash a new warhead. development, all three said.
The nuclear renewal program is seen as an essential element of U.S. national security, but many experts believe it has flourished under President Donald Trump and now needs major and sustained increases in U.S. security. total military consumption in the coming decades. Instead, the Biden team hopes to renew nuclear talks with Russia and other world powers in an effort to advance arms control, the official said.
While Biden is working to appoint an arms control czar that would have to go through the tedious testing process, it is likely to light a quick, short-term light on the arms deal with Moscow, with which called New START, then coming to Moscow for more meaningful talks, said one of the people.
The man described it as an “important issue” for President-Elect, a longtime nonprofit candidate who wrote in an article in March 2020 that he would follow the New START agreement and “use that as a basis for control arrangements new weapons. ”
A comprehensive overhaul of the country’s nuclear arsenal has been going on for half a decade, beginning under the Obama administration, which focused on the planes, missiles and submarines that the military would use. USA uses to launch nuclear weapons at enemy targets.
New Intercontinental ballistic missile
When Trump took office, he argued that a concrete strategy promoted the development of new U.S. air, land and marine nuclear systems of late and looked at a new land-based interregional ballistic missile, and new sea-based weapons, including cruise missiles launched, adding to the strategy’s original price tag. Trump’s first Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, his former national security adviser HR McMaster and others were calling for the program to be expanded when the Trump administration ended its review of nuclear forces in February 2018.
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. aimed to spend nearly $ 500 billion, including inflation changes, to maintain and replace its nuclear arsenal over the next decade, according to the Office Congressional Budget. This represents an increase of $ 100 billion, or about 23%, from the projected cost at the end of the Obama administration. Experts estimate that nuclear renewal, at current spending levels, will rise above $ 1 trillion over 30 years.
Biden is now calling out the views on whether they should pursue plans to launch the W93 atomic head, which the Trump administration has been lobbying for since taking office.
“If they don’t get control costs, they have to make tough decisions about other conventional weapons programs, including Navy vessel surface applications,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Armed Control Association. “We are advising the incoming administration to suspend about three of the programs started under the Trump administration, including the ground-based strategic prevention program.”
‘More nuclear weapons’
The Obama administration agreed to undertake the renewal program in exchange for Republican ratification of the 2010 New START nuclear weapons reduction treaty with Russia – but now, there is serious skepticism about that agreement.
Trump has once again expressed his interest in leaving the three-year-old New START agreement, designed to reduce the risk of a Russia-West war.
The agreement is expected to expire on February 5, 2021.
Efforts by the Trump administration to renegotiate the deal were dashed in the weeks leading up to the election. However, these efforts have since stalled and there is no certainty now, largely due to the failed attempt to bring China to the arbitration table for trilateral arms talks, it is expected which China has again rejected.
Trump said he would only agree to an expansion if both sides also agreed to freeze all warhead stocks. Putin said he would consider releasing all stockpiles, although U.S. officials say they remain skeptical of their honesty.
This follows a decision by the administration last year to formally withdraw from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty – an important nuclear treaty during the Cold War with Russia that banned the development of missiles based on the land with an area of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.
Extending the New START contract
The treaty allows for a five-year extension, although Biden has not been discussed with options on how to proceed so it is unclear whether he will pursue a short-term extension to buy time for more cargo. -reconciliation, or whether his team will end any longer. a compromise in the two and a half weeks before the clock ran out, the shift officer said.
In October, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world is living “in the shadow of a nuclear catastrophe,” motivated by growing trust and tensions between nuclear powers. He said progress in puzzling the world of nuclear weapons has “stalled and is in the background of backlash,” and that lines between countries with nuclear weapons have “increased nuclear risks.”
Despite progress in shrinking the Cold War nuclear arsenals, the world’s total investment of nuclear warheads remains at a relatively high level, although the number is declining. About 91% of nuclear warheads belong to Russia or the USA, and each of their military stocks contains about 4,000 warheads.
That said, the US, Russia, and the UK are reducing their overall warhead investments, while France and Israel have relatively stable investments, while China, Pakistan, -India and North Korea are increasing the number of warheads they have, according to the Confederation of American Scientists. This is especially sad for the U.S. and other allies who are witnessing unrest in border disputes between China, India and Pakistan.
Experts note that balancing against scaling down America’s nuclear program with the Biden administration strengthens the capabilities of conventional military and non-military cybersecurity. That will make efforts to negotiate with Moscow even more important.
Beyond Moscow, Biden also has to make difficult decisions regarding other countries whose nuclear programs have been seen as a direct threat to the U.S. and its allies. That includes finding ways to bring China into arms control and strategic stability efforts, as well as dealing with North Korea and Iran, and growing border tension between India’s neighboring nuclear powers and Pakistan.
“There will be significant pressure on the Biden administration to address issues from the pandemic, to green energy investments, to domestic and social justice priorities that would impact on traditional defense spending,” said Jeff Abramson, director of the Forum on Arms Trade and its senior at the Arms Control Association. “Within the first days of its administration, it will also be clear whether it will take a new approach to arms sales issues. “