Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

DefSec Hagel Offers Reforms to US Nuclear Forces

Earlier today, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced what DOD News says is "a series of measures to increase investment in America's nuclear deterrent after reviews found evidence of systemic problems in the enterprise." The Pentagon is concerned that the guys currently running the US strategic nuclear deterrent can't run a lemonade stand. Secretary Hagel's proposals ought to make a small difference, but as usual, the bureaucracy is such that genuine reform is not an option.

The key issue as laid out by Secretary Hagel as he himself said is "As long as we have nuclear weapons, we will and we must ensure that they are safe, secure and effective." Mankind is not about to un-invent such weapons, and at the same time, America could cut is arsenal by a few thousand warheads (including those in reserve) and still have a credible nuclear deterrent.

Safety means maintenance, and recently, the Air Force resolved a problem with a special wrench used to fasten warheads onto missiles. It seems there was just one, and it was delivered by FedEx from one post to another. It now has multiple wrenches. Yet safety also means personnel with the appropriate skills; many of the recent cheating scandals in the Air Force nuclear training classes suggest that buying a new wrench is the easy part.

Security at nuclear bases is a huge problem in post 9/11 terms. One is not particularly afraid of a raid on a major military installation and the bad guys walking off with a nuke or two. One fears a member of the military deciding that sabotage might serve the will of the Creator -- it is just a small step from shootings by military personnel on military bases to that. Raising the commander of nuclear forces from a 3-star to a 4-star rank (as Mr. Hagel suggests) won't affect this. The real solution adding psychological assessments and help to security background checks. America is still a long way from treating mental illnesses like PTSD as anything but an embarrassment.

As for effective, this journal is quite confident that in the event of the balloon going up, America's hardware and software guided by its trained personnel will be quite able to incinerate as many cities and required. However, the question is whether that is really effective in today's environment. No nuclear weapon has been used in anger since 1945. The Pentagon bureaucracy and that within Congress refuses to ask just what good are the megatons if they are not used.

As nasty as Mr. Putin's Russia is today, the Russian leadership understands that a nuclear exchange would be bad for business. That's why the invasion of Ukraine is being done with such stealth. Of the other nuclear powers in the world, the US has no issue with any save North Korea, and it is safe to say that thousands of weapons as a deterrent to the sociopath-ocracy there is excessive.

As for the people out there who really wish to do America and its allies harm, one cannot deter with the threat of death anyone who wishes martyrdom. The Pentagon currently spends $15-16 billion on nuclear weapons systems. Mr. Hagel wants to boost that by 10% each year for the next five years. That doesn't provide for the serious strategic re-think required. It merely helps the Air Force buy some wrenches.

© Copyright 2014 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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