Resolving Ambiguity: Costing Nuclear Weapons Report Release
June 05, 2012
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.
Stimson released a 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 featured a presentation by the report's authors laying out the
conclusions of the report, followed by a panel of experts to discuss the
implications of the report's findings with a question and answer period to
follow. 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 Authors:
Russell Rumbaugh, Director, Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and
Defense, Stimson Center
Nathan Cohn, Research Assistant, Stimson Center
Followed by a panel discussion with:
Stephen Schwartz, Editor of the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies Journal, The Nonproliferation Review
Robert Zarate, Policy Director, The Foreign Policy Initiative
Kingston Reif, Director of Non-Proliferation, The Center for
Arms Control and Non-Proliferation