Subcommittee Chair Ellen Tauscher Strategic Forces Subcommittee Hearing on the National Nuclear Security Administration's Plans for Complex Modernization
July 17, 2008
"Good morning. This hearing of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee will come to order. Today, we will consider the National Nuclear Security Administration's plan for modernizing the nuclear weapons complex - what the NNSA calls its plan for 'Complex Transformation.'
"I want to welcome our first panel of distinguished witnesses, starting with the Administrator of the NNSA, Undersecretary Tom D'Agostino. It is a pleasure to have you back before the subcommittee.
"Following the Administrator's testimony, he will be joined at the witness table by the team of experts that manage and operate the NNSA nuclear weapons complex, whom I will introduce at that time.
"This topic has not received the attention it deserves. The maintenance and modernization of the nuclear weapons complex is a prerequisite to the continuing success of the science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program.
"For more than a decade, the Stockpile Stewardship Program has enabled us to successfully maintain the safety, security and reliability of our nation's nuclear deterrent without underground nuclear tests. The nation's success in this endeavor is a marvelous story, and frankly, it is not well-enough publicized.
"But even where there is recognition of the effectiveness of the stewardship program, there is not always a recognition of the challenges of extending that success.
"With today's hearing, I want to have a frank discussion of what it takes - in terms of both physical and human capital - to sustain and extend the success of the stewardship program.
"The back drop for this discussion, of course, is the larger debate over U.S. nuclear weapons policy.
"I am as eager as anyone for a 21st century update to our nuclear weapons policies. That's why I led the effort last year to create the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States. I believe the commission will foster and frame a national discussion on the role nuclear weapons play in assuring our national security.
"But as the Chairman of the Commission, former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry has noted, even as we try to move toward a world free of nuclear weapons, we must be realistic about the length of that process. It will take decades. And so over that time frame, we must ensure that the Stockpile Stewardship Program remains viable.
"Which means we cannot simply sit on our hands and watch buildings erected during the Manhattan Project crumble, if in their absence we have no space to do the work that stewardship requires.
"And it means we cannot lay off thousands of scientists and engineers and then expect to do the science and technical work that stewardship requires.
"Our responsibilities are greater than that, and that's why I called this hearing.
"With that, let me turn to my good friend, our Ranking Member Mr. Everett, for any comments he may have."
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