Nuclear Death, Warmed Over
▻http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-wolfsthal/nuclear-death-warmed-over_b_4560521.html
The cold war is over is long gone, but the nuclear triad remains. And now, as the nuclear weapons built and deployed in the 1980s reach the end of their operational lives, the government is planning to not only maintain these weapons, but to build their replacements. Yes, despite the fact that the Soviet Union does not exist and the United States needs almost no nuclear weapons for its security or that of its allies, the pressure is on for the U.S. to rebuild a cold war nuclear arsenal over the next 30 years.
Unless current plans change, the Departments of Defense and Energy will spend over $1 trillion over the next 30 years to maintain current systems and purchase their replacements. You got that right — trillion with a T. This is over $33 billion a year, or three times what we are spending on nuclear systems today. As the threat goes down, we plan to spend more. In an age of budget constraint, it is hard to see how an increase in nuclear weapons spending is needed or aids American security. Nuclear weapons are practically irrelevant to the threats of nuclear terrorism or other regional threats we face today. Worse, as the costs increase, pressure for delays and cuts will grow leading programs to be stretched out, and in the end providing less capability at higher cost.