Our guest blogger is Andrew Grotto, a Senior National Security Analyst at the Center for American Progress.
Buried in the Senate version of the economic recovery plan — despite the “heroic” efforts of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), and other centrists to “fr[y] the bacon” — is an allocation of $1 billion to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for “weapons activities.” This provision, divorced as it is from any semblance of national security strategy, should be eliminated.
The Senate also added $5 billion to the Department of Energy budget for “defense environmental cleanup.” Environmental remediation is a legitimate component of the recovery and reinvestment plan, since it is labor intensive — though highly specialized in the case of nuclear-related remediation — and recommits the nation to responsible environmental stewardship.
But nuclear weapons activities is another matter. The Obama administration is in the early stages of a formal Nuclear Posture Review that will, as one of its outcomes, offer recommendations for the future of the nuclear weapons complex, including modernization as necessary. Funds allocated to NNSA before the review is completed are neither stimulative nor wise. That $1 billion ought to be cut before the bill reaches the President’s desk.
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