The publication is reproduced in full below:
INTRODUCING THE INVESTING IN COMMONSENSE BALLISTIC MISSILES (ICBM) ACT
OF 2021
______
HON. JOHN GARAMENDI
of california
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, the Investing in Commonsense Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) Act of 2021 bill will pause the development of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program, the planned replacement to the current Minuteman III missile, and the associated W87-1 nuclear warhead. Additionally, it requires the service life of the currently deployed Minuteman III missiles to be extended until 2040--something that is both technically feasible and more cost-efficient.
The world is witnessing a new nuclear arms race, and this one is extremely dangerous as tensions rise between the Great Powers. As the United States, Russia, and China rush to modernize their nuclear arsenals, the trip wire is growing more taut. Observation and communication satellites and systems are increasingly vulnerable to attacks. All three countries are fielding stealth and hypersonic nuclear delivery systems designed to evade detection. The risk of a false alarm or a political miscalculation has always haunted the nuclear landscape and they do even more today.
As long as nuclear weapons exist we must have a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent. The simultaneous modernization efforts across all three legs of the nuclear triad are an unnecessary and costly way to achieve our deterrent. The modernization includes the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), the B-21 bomber, the Columbia-
class submarine, the Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) air-launched cruise missile, the sea launched nuclear cruise missile, and new nuclear warheads. The costs are extraordinary: a 2017 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimated that the 30-year cost of nuclear weapons spending would be $1.2 trillion ($1.7 trillion adjusted for inflation). As the Government Accountability Office recently noted, the current plan to modernize every part of the arsenal at the same time is a recipe for schedule delays and cost overruns.
The ICBM leg of the Triad deserves special attention. The total price tag to procure the GBSD is projected to be at least $95 billion, and
$264 billion when accounting for total life-cycle costs. A GBSD pause will help defray short-term costs for the Air Force and will also defer a long-term expenditure. Additionally, the W87-1, the warhead that is being designed for the GBSD, will cost at least $12 billion to build--
and is not part of the estimated GBSD procurement cost of $95 billion. To build new warhead cores for the W87-1, the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) is expanding plutonium pit production, which will cost at least another $9 billion through the late 2020s according to the Congressional Budget Office.
We do not need a new ICBM to provide a robust deterrence. The existing MMIII can serve until 2040 with one more life extension, which is technically feasible. Lieutenant General Richard M. Clark, then-Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, noted in testimony before the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives that we have ``one more opportunity'' to conduct life extension on the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, indicating the technical feasibility of extending the Minuteman III missile.
Other independent experts have confirmed the feasibility of a MMIII life extension. In fact, the Air Force intends to do just that. It will upgrade and extend the life of existing MMIII missiles while it is replacing others with the GBSD. The swap out plan is an admission that the life extension is not only possible but has already been factored into the existing plan.
Maintaining and upgrading the current Minuteman III missile is technically possible, and according to a 2017 CBO report, it would cost
$37 billion less than developing and deploying the GBSD through 2036.
Budget analysts who watch Pentagon budgets have warned that an unaffordable ``bow wave'' would occur as the Pentagon plans to upgrade every weapon system at the same time. Former Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson noted in December 2020, ``the next fiscal year (FY22) will see a steep increase in the cost of refurbishing our nuclear deterrent, and with a flat budget, the Air Force can't do this without crushing its ability to handle all of its other missions.'' The current leadership of the military must answer the question, ``What critical weapon, defense system, or benefit for the troops and their families could be funded with the $37 billion saved by pausing the GBSD Missile program?''
Any discussion of the GBSD and the MMIII must include the question
``Do we need ICBM's sitting in 400 silos in the upper midwest to have an effective deterrent?'' There is a powerful argument that they are not necessary. The bomber fleet, together with America's Trident II D5 Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles, can deliver several times more nuclear bombs to any part of the globe than the 400 silo-based ICBM's. Moreover, it is argued that the silo-based ICBM's are inherently dangerous because their location is known and they must therefore be launched within minutes of notification of a nuclear attack or be lost to an incoming missile attack.
In every ICBM silo lies the existential risk of a false alarm or a miscalculation. Both have happened in the past but fortunately the errors were discovered in time to save human life on our planet. Bombers can be recalled and subs cannot be found as they hide in the oceans, thereby providing critical time for a thoughtful and fully informed decision before pressing the button.
The ICBM Act bill will strengthen our national security and save billions of tax-payer dollars by:
Prohibiting the use of funds for the GBSD program and W87-1 warhead modification program for fiscal years 2022 through 2031;
Extending the service life of the Minuteman III missiles until at least 2040, and requiring use of nondestructive testing methods and technologies similar to those used by the Navy for Trident II D5 SLBMs; and
Transferring back to the Air Force all unobligated funds for the GBSD program, and transferring unobligated funds for the W87-1 warhead modification program from the National Nuclear Security Administration to the Treasury.
I shall end this with a personal memory of a visit to a United Kingdom submarine that was about to deploy with 16 ICBM's and multiple nuclear bombs. The captain took great pride in his ship and its role in deterrence. As we were leaving the sub I asked him, ``Suppose you are ordered to launch your missiles and their nuclear bombs. You follow the order and launch your missiles. Then what do you do? Go home? To what?'' He did not reply.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 114
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