WASHINGTON, March 29 (UPI) -- The United States still needs to retain its nuclear deterrent against serious threats, the head of the NNSA said Wednesday.
"Several nations currently possess nuclear, chemical, and/or biological weapons, and the means to deliver these weapons, and have given no indication they are willing to give them up," Thomas P. D'Agostino, acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Energy, told the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
D'Agostino said U.S. nuclear weapons also served to "deter nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction threats against the United States, its forces, and its allies.
"This implies an ability to hold at risk those elements of power that a potential adversary values," he said. "While we should not expect that our nuclear weapons will deter terrorist WMD threats, they can deter transfer of nuclear weapons and other WMD from rogue states to terrorist groups."
The United States' continued possession of nuclear weapons also served to "deter large-scale wars of aggression against the U.S. or its allies," D'Agostino said. It also reminded U.S. allies "of our continuing commitment to them and of our ability to make good on that commitment -- the implication is that nuclear forces must be effective and reliable. This strengthens our ties with allies and also serves our non-proliferation objectives because those allies with the capability to develop nuclear weapons can continue to forego doing so, safe in the knowledge of the reliability of the U.S. nuclear umbrella," he said.
"Nuclear forces are the nation's 'insurance policy' for an uncertain future and remain a key element of U.S. national security strategy," the NNSA chief said.
