Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee - Air Force Nuclear Security

Statement

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SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you all very much for being here this morning. This is a very serious incident, and I have a particular interest in it, serving both as the ranking member of the Readiness Subcommittee and on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee. And I think this incident illustrates an important point, and that is that everyone is human, and humans make mistakes.

That said, obviously we can't tolerate mistakes on a subject that is this important. Our system has to be robust enough to protect us from human error. And while I have every confidence in the system while this subject is very much at the forefront of our minds, my concern would be that as we get farther away from the -- in time from this incident, that we'll have the same loss of focus and perhaps erosion of procedures.

So what I'd like to do briefly this morning is, I've got some questions that I'd be happy to submit for the record. But I would like at least to ask a couple of questions and maybe start with kind of the broad view, the 30,000-foot view, if you will, and for that question, General Welch, I would simply say that your report discusses a long-term perception that nuclear forces and the nuclear deterrent mission are increasingly devalued.

And I guess the question is, in your view how do we regain the focus and value of this mission given current events in Iraq and Afghanistan?

GEN. WELCH: Well, certainly the department and national security leaders have plenty to occupy their attention, but if you will search the Internet, or any place else you might like to search, for statements from the senior leadership emphasizing the importance of the strategic nuclear mission, I think you will search in vain.

So that the people out in the field who maintain these weapons are very bright people, they read, they listen, and unless they hear some statements from senior people in this government that what they do is important, then instead of that they will hear all of the other blogs and all of the other things you see about the fact that we should get rid of these weapons, that they're not important, that we don't need them anymore.

Oh, you hear that drumbeat. That drumbeat is widely publicized, and you don't see the counter. You don't see the counter from leaders that say, "Yes, it is important. Nuclear deterrence remains a key issue." So I don't think it's any more complicated than that, sir.

SEN. THUNE: How would you gauge the current health of the DOD nuclear weapons' surety and safety?

GEN. WELCH: I'm sorry?

SEN. THUNE: How would you gauge the current health of the DOD nuclear weapons' surety and safety?

GEN. WELCH: Well, I think we have uncovered no safety issues, although there are some scenarios where two or three things can go wrong and you might be concerned. But most of our concerns have been about surety. And if you look at all the areas and all the ways that we have to store and handle these weapons in order to perform the mission, it just requires, we believe, more resources and more attention than they're getting.

Now that does not mean that the weapons are not secure. They are as secure as they have ever been. It just means if the standard goes up, which it has, then there are technologies that can be brought to bear but are not brought to bear because of legal concerns. There are resource needs that are identified, but there are other priorities.

We are not in the business of telling the department what their priorities should be. We are in the business of identifying where we think the capability caps are, and we have done so.

SEN. THUNE: General Peyer, in your blue-ribbon review, you note, and I quote, "a consistent observation permeating this review is the friction between the need for surety perfection and operating in an environment of tightly constrained resources," end quote. In your view, how do we best overcome that friction?

GEN. PEYER: We've already taken many steps. As you know, balancing the resources and the requirement is constantly on our plate of our senior leaders. And so as we looked at the blue-ribbon review and offered some very specific areas where some investment in some resources could be applied to ensure and enhance our nuclear surety program, we've already submitted an unfunded requirements list -- I believe that was submitted on Friday -- and that would be for an unfunded list. And as we go into the FY '10 POM, we will pick up on those and include those in our POM. So we've already begun that realignment of priorities within our budget.

SEN. THUNE: And I understand that -- I appreciate that answer -- that with constrained resources, it's a challenge and we're all facing the challenge of trying to do a lot of things with a lot of competing demands and a very limited amount of resources. But how do you think we got to where we didn't allocate enough to ensure nuclear weapons surety and safety, even in an environment where we've got constrained resources?

GEN. PEYER: Well, Senator, our review found that we still have a nuclear surety, and it's a strong program. The constrained resources does drive some mitigation strategies that we have. A lot of times, if you don't have an asset, you'll apply people instead of an asset that you have -- that you don't have -- for example, a piece of equipment. Our aging infrastructure, test equipment -- for example, nuclear weapons test equipment is 25 or 30 years old, and so definitely a re-look at recapitalizing that. And so as we've gone forward with our resource decisions, we are always analyzing exactly where those shortfalls are, and we work mitigation strategies to be able to reduce the risk.

SEN. THUNE: I see my time is up. I think we have a vote on. So, Mr. Chairman, I do have a couple of other questions, but I'd be happy to enter those for the record, if that would be --

SEN. LEVIN: You could take another minute or two if you want.

SEN. THUNE: Well, let me just, if I could, ask General Darnell -- you're in charge of day-to-day operations for the Air Force, and I understand that the Air Force recently put out a new instruction on nuclear weapons maintenance procedures. And I guess if -- could you talk a little bit about what that instruction change is, as well as some of the other steps that we've already taken that will ensure that there is an appropriate long-term fix?

GEN. DARNELL: Senator, we -- custody transfer and accountability's been several areas that we've looked at, as well as tightening up standards on logistics movements, security, safety. We had some procedures that were -- scheduling procedures that were violated there at Minot, and those have been fixed through a different venue, through 205.

But most of the focus has been there in the logistical area, to ensure we tighten up those processes.

SEN. THUNE: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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