Washington Post - Sen. Feinstein's Nuclear Proposal

Op-Ed

By Mike Rogers

Sen. Dianne Feinstein's call for further reductions to the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile shows a disregard for reality. Her statement that "the current level of spending on nuclear weapons is unnecessary and unsustainable" is in stark contrast to the conclusions of the Obama administration.

In 2013, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said, "You may all be surprised to know that nuclear weapons don't actually cost that much. It is not a big swinger of the budget. You don't save a lot of money by having arms control and so forth."

As Mr. Carter recognizes, the reality is that the U.S. nuclear weapons budget only amounts to about 4 percent of U.S. defense spending and less than 1 percent of total federal spending. Ms. Feinstein's complaint that the cost of U.S. nuclear weapons "is undermining other national security priorities" is equally unfounded. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said just last month, "Our nuclear deterrent plays a critical role in assuring U.S. national security, and it is DoD's highest priority mission. No other capability we have is more important."

As Russia continues to violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, station nuclear weapons in territory stolen from Ukraine and rattle nuclear sabers at NATO, Ms. Feinstein's call for unilateral U.S. disarmament defies common sense. Nuclear weapons are not undermining other national security priorities -- they are undergirding them.

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