RELIABLE REPLACEMENT WARHEAD TO BE ADOPTED AS US STRATEGY

The interagency Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC) has formally
decided to endorse the proposed Reliable Replacement Warhead
(RRW) concept as the basis of the future U.S. nuclear arsenal,
a new report from the Congressional Research Service revealed.

In November 2006, "the NWC determined that the RRW is to be
adopted as the strategy for maintaining a long term safe,
secure and reliable nuclear deterrent," the CRS report stated,
quoting from new Department of Energy budget documents (at
page CRS-26).

It is a momentous decision on which Congress might be expected
to weigh in.

Not only that, but RRW development will be funded at the
expense of existing nuclear weapons programs, budget documents
say, "through reductions in resources required to support
legacy weapons" (at page CRS-27)

Defunding work to extend the functional lifetime of existing
weapons would tend to foreclose efforts to avoid new nuclear
weapons development.

According to a CRS calculation (and subject to future
adjustments), the projected budget for the RRW program from FY
2008-2012 would be $725.1 million, including NNSA and Navy
funds.

The Congressional Research Service does not release its
publications directly to the public. A copy of the new report
was obtained by Secrecy News and posted on the Federation of
American Scientists web site.

See "Nuclear Weapons: The Reliable Replacement Warhead
Program," updated February 8, 2007

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL32929.pdf