Rogers: Democrat's effort to slash U.S. nuclear stockpile shows 'disregard for reality'

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-AL03 (Photo: Facebook)

WASHINGTON — Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers (R-AL3) on Monday slammed Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal.), current chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, for her effort to drastically reduce the United States’ stockpile of nuclear weapons, saying it shows a “disregard for reality.”

In an op-ed published last week in the Washington Post, Feinstein argued that nuclear weapons are an antiquated remnant of the Cold War and are now little more than “a financial burden and a threat to global security.”

She acknowledges the advantage of maintaining some nukes as a deterrent, but believes the current stockpile of 4,804 nuclear weapons is excessive and should be slashed to reduce costs and make the world safer.

Rogers, who chairs the strategic forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, responded on Monday with a brief editorial, also in the Post, arguing that Feinstein’s criticisms are unfounded.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s call for further reductions to the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile shows a disregard for reality. Her statement that “the current level of spending on nuclear weapons is unnecessary and unsustainable” is in stark contrast to the conclusions of the Obama administration.

In 2013, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said, “You may all be surprised to know that nuclear weapons don’t actually cost that much. … It is not a big swinger of the budget. You don’t save a lot of money by having arms control and so forth.”

As Mr. Carter recognizes, the reality is that the U.S. nuclear weapons budget only amounts to about 4 percent of U.S. defense spending and less than 1 percent of total federal spending. Ms. Feinstein’s complaint that the cost of U.S. nuclear weapons “is undermining other national security priorities” is equally unfounded. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said just last month, “Our nuclear deterrent plays a critical role in assuring U.S. national security, and it is DoD’s highest priority mission. No other capability we have is more important.”

As Russia continues to violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, station nuclear weapons in territory stolen from Ukraine and rattle nuclear sabers at NATO, Ms. Feinstein’s call for unilateral U.S. disarmament defies common sense. Nuclear weapons are not undermining other national security priorities — they are undergirding them.

Feinstein will lose her chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee to Republican Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) in January. Burr voted against ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia that sought to scale back both countries’ nuclear stockpile.