By Jim Garamone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2015 – Even in an age of terror groups
like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Qaida, deterrence remains
at the heart of America’s security strategy, said Navy Adm. Cecil D. Haney, the
commander of U.S. Strategic Command.
The key to deterrence is any adversary has to understand
“that they cannot escalate their way out of a failed conflict,” he said during
an interview at the Washington Navy Yard Aug. 4.
The admiral spoke following a stakeholders meeting at the
Navy’s Strategic Systems Program -- the folks who maintain the Navy’s
submarine-launched ballistic missile program.
Any attack directed at the United States “would be very
costly for them and they will not get the benefits they are trying to achieve,”
he said.
Successful deterrence, he said, compels an adversary to
acknowledge that “restraint is a much better option.”
Nuclear Deterrence
Nuclear deterrence is the one aspect that most people are
familiar with and that is a main concern for Haney.
“We have to be aware of the fact as long as we have
countries like Russia and China that have developed this kind of nuclear
capability and are deploying this kind of capability,” the admiral said.
Haney emphasized that deterrence is more than nuclear
weapons or even the military. “We are not locked into one domain thinking,” he
said. “If you take on the United States of America, we will use the appropriate
tools out of our kit to associate with that particular business.”
Sometimes a response will be diplomatic, the admiral said.
Other times it will be economic or informational. All “are backed by sufficient
military capability,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it is my job to deter a strategic
attack against the United States of America and its allies,” Haney said, “and
to provide the president the decision space and options if deterrence fails.”
Improvements for Nuclear Enterprise
Some past issues involving the nuclear enterprise have been
reviewed and improvements are being implemented, Haney said.
“We were able to identify specifically each area we needed
to improve in,” the admiral said. Stratcom has been working with the Air Force
and Navy in all areas, he said, to institutionalize the improvements suggested
by the reviews. These run from changes in training, manning and equipping the
associated forces and how the services employ them.
There is no end point to these improvements, the admiral
said.
“You have to continue to assess where you are and to work on
improving things, either because your adversaries are improving or because you
want to do it in a more efficient and effective way,” he said.
All components and members of the nuclear enterprise will
build this continuous improvement into their battle cycle, the admiral said.
Since the reviews, the command has done another review of the nuclear command
and control capability. That review pointed to areas that needed attention, and
the command and the services are addressing them, he said.
Nuclear Triad
The nuclear triad of ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic
missiles and manned bombers needs attention, the admiral said. These systems
need to have the right attributes and performance factors to work today and in
the future, Haney said.
Looking ahead, the peak funding for the nuclear triad will
be in the mid-2020s and should constitute about six to seven percent of defense
total obligation authority, Haney said.
There really isn’t a choice, he said. Haney used the
ballistic missile submarines as an example.
“When we decommission it, [the Ohio-class submarine] will
have 42 years of service life -- well beyond the 30 years it was designed for,”
Haney said. “The good news is we’ve been able to extend that platform, but we
can’t do it any further so it has to be replaced.”
There’s a program for the bomber and for the ICBM force, he
said.
“As we work these, we still have to be thoughtful and look
at our requirements to ensure we can save where we can,” he said. “One area is
the commonality that we can have, and generate a synergistic effect … in
looking at what things we can have that are common between the intercontinental
ballistic missile and the submarine-launched ballistic missile program.”
Haney said a letter signed by himself, Navy Assistant
Secretary for Research, Development and Acquisition Sean J. Stackley and Air
Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisition William A. LaPlante, highlights this
move to commonality and savings.
Warhead fusing components are a collaborative effort between
the Air Force, Navy and Department of Energy labs, he said.
“It doesn’t mean they all look the same, but there are
common parts and pieces and common methodologies so we can avoid paying bills
twice,” Haney said. “Where we can have common designs that makes sense given
the technological and advantages we have today.”
Visiting ‘Strategic Warriors’
Haney spends a lot of time visiting what he calls “the
strategic warriors” in their foxholes -- the silos, subs and planes.
“These folks are passionate about getting the mission right
for the United States of America and I’m proud of each and every one of them,”
he said. “I find in my frank discussions with them … that they are in there to
serve our country, do the mission right and I do sense an improvement in
morale.”
Haney addressed deterrence in the cyber world, saying it is
much like any other realm of combat.
“Any adversary that wants to take us on in [cyber or space]
domains must understand that we not only work on the defensive aspect, but our
national leaders can pick what methodology they want to use, not restricted to
a particular domain,” he said.
They need to understand, they won’t get the benefits they
hope to achieve with a cyber or space attack, the admiral said.
“We have to be able to differentiate between working against
a cybercrime that occurs rather than a strategic attack using the cyberspace
domain,” he said.
The United States will not spell out what will happen to
those who launch cyberattacks, the admiral said, and that is fine because some
ambiguity is necessary.
“The whole of government approach that our country uses has
to be thoughtful and tailored to the right answer,” he said.
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