Recapitalizing Nuclear Weapons

Beginning with the development of the nuclear bomb in 1945, the US has maintained a leadership role in nuclear weapons design. However, since the end of the Cold War, the nuclear weapons complex (NWC) (created to design, manufacture, maintain, test and ultimately dismantle nuclear weapons and their components) has consolidated and been insufficiently maintained. The Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Douglas Feith, summarized the NWC status in Congressional testimony, "For example, the United States today is the only nuclear weapons state that cannot remanufacture replacements or produce new nuclear weapons." The US must reverse this trend.