Over the weekend, the Washington Post published a lengthy story by Dana Priest on plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear arsenal. It is difficult to comprehend the strategic rationale for the nation’s nuclear arsenal and force structure, and politics and parochialism (especially the jobs associated with the various nuclear labs) add a further layer of complexity. Most casual observers can be forgiven for becoming lost in the haze of secrecy and deliberate obfuscation that has swirled around the nation’s nuclear deterrent for decades. To her credit, Priest, one of the better national security reporters out there, is trying to pierce the fog. Unfortunately, this particular story may obscure more than it illuminates.
In excruciating detail, the Los Alamos Study Group’s Greg Mello points out his many complaints. Those who read the entire Priest story might at least want to consider Mello’s point by point analysis. For my part, I tend to agree with Mello that this line–”The need to spend heavily to modernize the nation’s shrinking nuclear stockpile has been apparent for at least two decades”–is the “money quote” of the piece.
No comments:
Post a Comment