WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In the coming seven months, the administration will be reviewing the US nuclear modernization plan, a multi-decade effort to upgrade the US land, sea, and air strategic deterrent.
Early during his first term in office, Obama announced his intent to pursue "a world without nuclear weapons" at a landmark nonproliferation speech in the Czech Republic.
"I can promise you today that President [Barack] Obama is continuing to review a number of ways he can advance the Prague [nuclear disarmament] agenda over the course of the next seven months," Rhodes said at the annual Arms Control Association meeting.
In the years that followed, the Obama administration negotiated the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty — or New START — with Russia, and worked with international partners to ensure Iran’s nuclear program is used solely for peaceful purposes.
Until President Obama leaves office in January 2017, the administration will continue to take steps to address the threat of North Korea’s nuclear program, which Rhodes characterized as "the most serious proliferation challenge we face in the world today."
Missile defense in Southeast Asia will also be a "top priority" in Obama’s final months in office, according to Rhodes.
The White House is less confident about making progress on further reductions in deployed and non-deployed nuclear warheads, given Russia’s "reduced enthusiasm" for new negotiations, Rhodes explained. The White House also estimates the US Senate will not ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, banning any nuclear test for military or other purposes.
The United States will have to make a "significant investment" in its nuclear enterprise, Rhodes stated, but identified possible offsets, given the improvements made to US conventional capabilities and the Obama administration's decreased emphasis on the role of nuclear weapons in US strategy.
The US disarmament community, including former government officials, have raised the possibility of removing certain programs from the US modernization program, including the long-range stand-off nuclear cruise missile, or the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the intercontinental ballistic missile to replace the Minuteman III.
Cuts to the program could significantly reduce the estimated $1 trillion price-tag on the thirty-year modernization program.
