By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2015 – The United States’ strategic
deterrent includes a triad of nuclear delivery platforms, but other critical
elements range from intelligence and missile defense to space and cyber
capabilities and a capable workforce, Navy Adm. Cecil Haney said here today.
The commander of U.S. Strategic Command spoke on strategic
deterrence in the 21st century during a discussion moderated by Thom Shanker of
the New York Times and hosted by the Atlantic Council's Brent Scowcroft Center
on International Security.
The strategic deterrent includes a robust and agile
intelligence apparatus, a synthesis of dedicated space and ground sensors that
provide critical early warning for missile launchers and bomber threats,
national nuclear command and control and the necessary infrastructure to
sustain nuclear weapons without fully testing the warheads, the admiral said.
Other parts of the deterrent are a credible missile defense
system that defends against limited attacks from rogue nations, cyberspace and
space capabilities, trained and ready people, a campaign plan that orients
assigned capabilities and activities toward a common purpose, and synchronized
treaties, policies and strategies, Haney added.
A Whole-of-Government Approach
“This is not just capability but a whole-of-government
approach that requires our attention and the necessary resources,” Haney said,
adding that the Nuclear Deterrent Enterprise Review Group recently established
by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel provides important support for the nation's
deterrent.
Even in an era of significant resource constraints the
nation must get 21st century deterrence right, Haney said, and must make clear
to adversaries or potential adversaries that restraint is always the better
course.
“It will require us to work together as a team, as partners
-- the government, the private sector and academia,” he said, “to shape policy
that will have a meaningful impact on our national security.”
Haney recalled President Barack Obama’s 2009 Prague speech,
in which Obama publicly stated his goal for a world free of nuclear weapons,
and said the new START treaty between the United States and Russia -– formally
called Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive
Arms -– is an effort to work toward that goal.
Deterrents Can Fail
“The president's 2013 Nuclear Weapons Employment Strategy
and strategic documents such as the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review and the 2014
Quadrennial Defense Review make it clear that as long as nuclear weapons
exist,” Haney said, “the United States must maintain a strong and credible
safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent and … be prepared for the
possibility that deterrents can fail.”
Of the multiple states around the globe who have nuclear
weapons or aspirations of acquiring them, the admiral mentioned Russia, China,
North Korea and Iran.
Russia has had more than a decade of investments and
modernization across its strategic nuclear forces, he said, adding that the
U.S. approach to dealing with Russia in this context today is not about
continuing the Cold War.
“This is about emerging capability at a time of significant
concerns about Russians' execution of their near and abroad strategy,” Haney
said, adding that Russia has significant cyber capability.
A Time of Significant Concerns
Russia also has significant cyber capability and Russian
leaders have publicly stated that they are developing counter-space
capabilities and that Russia’s armed forces have anti-satellite weapons and
conduct anti-satellite research.
China also is modernizing its strategic forces, the admiral
said, by enhancing silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, conducting
the first fleet tests of a new mobile missile and making progress on a
successor expected to be another road-mobile ICBM capable of carrying multiple
warheads. China is also testing and integrating new ballistic missile
submarines, providing that nation with its first sea-based strategic nuclear deterrent,
Haney said.
“As I'm sure you're aware,” he told the audience, “they're
also developing multidimensional space capabilities supporting their
access-denial campaign. But with more than 60 nations operating satellites in
space, it's extremely problematic to see China conducting missiles designed to
destroy satellites.”
North Korea continues to advance its nuclear ambitions, the
admiral added, and Iran has made no secret of its desire to acquire nuclear
weapons.
21st Century Deterrents
Haney said, “21st century deterrents must be tailored to
specific adversaries and threats, and in an integrated manner, so we can
predict what deters and what prevents escalation.”
Haney’s top priority is to deter strategic attack and
provide the nation with a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent force,
but he’s also interested in international partnerships and promoting innovation
for future capabilities.
In the past year he’s had meetings with defense ministers of
South Korea, France and Australia, a former Japanese defense minister, the
United Kingdom’s vice defense chief, and five partners involved in
space-sharing agreements.
In October, he said, “we conducted a command-and-control
exercise designed to train our Defense Department forces and access our joint
operational readiness across all my mission areas with a specific focus on
nuclear readiness.”
Accessing Joint Operational Readiness
Stratcom did this in conjunction with U.S. Northern Command,
the North American Aerospace Defense Command, and Canadian partners in
exercises that included Vigilant Shield, Positive Response and Determined
Dragon.
Another of Haney’s high priorities is bolstering Stratcom’s
ability to anticipate change and confront uncertainty with agility and
innovation.
“Last summer we cut the ribbon at U.S. Strategic Command's
War Gaming Center back there at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, to help enable
and challenge our thinking with the ability to look at alternative scenarios,
some plausible today and some unthinkable tomorrow,” the admiral explained.
“We need to grow innovative leaders, identify new
operational concepts and continue to develop cutting-edge technology so we can
continue to evolve our ideas on how to deter our adversaries and potential
adversaries and, of course, assure our allies.”
Finding Problems, Plucking Them Out
But Haney said the nation would not have a credible
strategic deterrent today if it were not for the men and women, military and
civilian, “who conduct and contribute to our strategic deterrent mission day in
and day out, across all areas. From under the sea to geosynchronous orbit, they
are making concrete contributions to our security 24/7, 365 days a year.”
About the much-publicized problems over the past year with
some members of the nuclear force, Haney said that when such problems are
found, no matter where they are, “we pluck [them] out of our system … and get
through some root-cause analysis to figure out what we should be doing
associated with that particular problem.”
He added, “When you look at 90 percent of our team, [they]
come to work every day to do the right thing, passionate over the mission.”
In any organization, the admiral said, “You have to continue
to work on that other percentage of folks … and in this case I'm very happy
that we found the problem, eradicated the problem from our system and went to
work with this Nuclear Enterprise Review business to work on those problems.”
Charged About the Mission
Haney said he spent 2014 traveling and meeting with all of
those involved in the strategic deterrent mission.
“I can say unequivocally that those folks are fired up and
charged about the mission,” he said. “I think the rest of us need to support
them in how we talk about it and associate it with the plans we have now.”
The admiral added, “I am proud of working with those great
Americans.”
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