Briefing | Resolving Ambiguity: Costing Nuclear Weapons
| Date | June 13, 2012 |
| Time | 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm |
| Location | Russell Senate Office Building, Room 188, Washington, DC |
As defense budgets decrease, many observers have called for cutting nuclear weapons to produce savings. But nobody is really sure how much the United States spends on nuclear weapons. Official estimates suggest $20 billion a year. Unofficial estimates say $55 billion a year. The wide gap of those estimates creates an uncertainty that clouds the policy discussion of what the United States should do with its nuclear weapons.
The Stimson Center will brief a recently released report of a year-long study that will clarify these issues. First, it compares the various estimates and demonstrates that most of the difference comes from different definitions. Second, it employs a new methodology to estimate the costs of the most uncertain aspect of nuclear weapons-support costs within the Department of Defense.
The event will feature a presentation by the report's lead author laying out the conclusions of the report, followed by comments from CRS analyst Amy Woolf. This report will clarify the uncertainty over how much the United States spends on nuclear weapons, returning the focus to the more important questions about how the United States should handle its nuclear weapons in the coming years.
Presentation by the Report's Lead Author, Russell Rumbaugh, Director, Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense, Stimson Center
Followed by Comments from CRS specialist in Nuclear Weapons Policy Amy Woolf, Congressional Research Service