ACCESSION NUMBER:339952
FILE ID:POL306
DATE:04/20/94
TITLE:U.S. NUCLEAR DETERRENT NEEDED IN FORESEEABLE FUTURE (04/20/94)
TEXT:*94042006.POL POMILILD
1.S. NUCLEAR DETERRENT NEEDED IN FORESEEABLE FUTURE
(Chiles says retaliatory capability required) (710)
By Jacquelyn S. Porth
USIA Security Affairs Writer
Washington -- The United States must continue to maintain a nuclear
deterrent force, says the commander of the Strategic Forces Command, "given
the current and foreseeable array of threats."
America cannot continue to deter a nuclear threat "if it does not possess a
retaliatory capability," Admiral Henry Chiles told the Senate Armed
Services Committee April 20.
And despite the promise of arms control initiatives, he said, Russia,
Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan "still possess sizable nuclear arsenals and
sophisticated delivery systems." Russian strategic forces, he noted,
continue to be at "a high state of readiness."
Chiles said the concept of nuclear deterrence, which has worked for 40
years, continues to evolve to meet changing world conditions. The United
States is working, bilaterally and multilaterally, with its key non-nuclear
allies "to ensure they understand our deterrence guarantees, thereby
obviating the need for their development of nuclear weapons," he said.
While U.S. strategic forces are sufficient and adequately funded through
fiscal year 1995, Chiles said, there are no new nuclear weapons or
ballistic missile programs "on the drawing boards to replace our current
systems." Therefore existing systems will have to fulfill nuclear
deterrence requirements "well into the future," he said.
Chiles noted that the Defense Department is conducting a "far-reaching
review" of its nuclear posture that encompasses a study of issues related
to the future role of nuclear forces, force structure, operations, and
safety. No decisions have been made yet, the commander said, but the
results of the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) should be available "later this
summer." For now, he said, the triad concept of nuclear air, sea and land
missiles "remains appropriate."
Next month, for the first time in 35 years, Chiles pointed out, the United
States and Russia will no longer have strategic ballistic missiles targeted
at each other. This development is a result of the detargeting agreement,
concluded in January by Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin, that will be
implemented as of May 30 and will apply to intercontinental ballistic
missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).
Chiles told a questioner the military will implement the accord all at once
on or before May 30, explaining that the missiles of both countries will be
targeted on "open ocean areas" instead of each other's territory.
While there are no provisions to verify the detargeting agreement, he
assured the congressional panel that the missiles can be retargeted "on
fairly short notice," if necessary.
Asked about reports that the United States might eliminate its ICBMs in the
future, Chiles said that while a "host of options" are being examined, that
recommendation has not been considered. ICBMs will be necessary in any
future U.S. military structure because the president needs the capability
"to face down rogue leaders," Chiles said.
Asked if he supports a further reduction in the number of ICBMs in the U.S.
stockpile, Chiles said the numbers are already "pretty small right now."
In 1989, the United States had 1,000 ICBMs; this year there are 642, and
next year there will be 550 remaining missile systems. Those numbers will
drop even further with the eventual implementation of the second Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Asked if he would support ICBM reductions
beyond START II, Chiles said only if "something (is) given up on the other
1ide."
Before further reductions are contemplated, the admiral said, the START Two
Treaty must be ratified, the United States must comply with the START Two
limits, and U.S. officials must be confident that the former Soviet
republics have attained the levels of reductions called for under the
treaty. Then, Chiles said, "there may be an opportunity to...discuss
further reductions."
Questioned at length about how the United States will maintain confidence in
the safety and reliability of its nuclear weapons under the conditions of a
future Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Chiles said the Departments of
Energy and Defense are working on creating the Stockpile Stewardship Plan
which will use past nuclear test data, nuclear effect simulators,
non-nuclear testing, and computer simulation modeling to confirm
performance in the absence of testing.
NNNN
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