20250507: STR Hearing: Nuclear Forces and Atomic Energy Defense Activities Programmatic Updates

House Subcommittee on Strategic Forces

2025-05-07

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Source: Congress.gov

Participants

Transcript

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you   Today's hearing will come to order.  Pursuant to Rule 4B3, members of the House Armed Services Committee who are not members of the subcommittee
are allowed to participate in today's hearing and will be recognized after all subcommittee members have had the opportunity to ask questions.  The Strategic Forces Subcommittee meets today to receive testimony on the policies and programs related to nuclear forces and atomic energy defense activities.  Appearing for the subcommittee, we have Ms. Theresa Robbins, the acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, Dr.  Brandy C. Vann, who is currently performing the duties
of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.  Ms. Andrea Yaffe, the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.  Vice Admiral Johnny Wolf, it's not in order, the Director of the Navy Strategic Systems Program Office   and Lieutenant General Andrew Gibera, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration for the United States Air Force.  Thank you all for being with us today.  While the top line numbers of the President's budget request for fiscal year 2026 have been released, programmatic information has not yet been made public.
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Unknown (SPEAKER_01)
This means our witnesses will be unable to comment on specific levels of funding for individual programs   as was the case in last week's hearing on missile defense activities.  Nevertheless, we appreciate your being with us today to testify about our nuclear forces and look forward to hearing from you about how we are sustaining our legacy capabilities and the progress we are making towards modernizing our deterrent.  The scale of this challenge cannot be overstated.   As a result of previous decisions to delay and defer modernization, both the Air Force and the Navy find themselves sustaining submarines, missiles, bombers longer than ever before, while simultaneously carrying out major development efforts to recapitalize each leg of the triad.   The same is true for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which continues to operate in facilities that date all the way back to the Manhattan era, such as the Beta 2 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in my home state of Tennessee, while also rebuilding its production complex and restoring the nation's ability to build nuclear weapons.  However, while sustainment and modernization are both necessary,   and foundational efforts, it is also clear that they are not sufficient to meet the dynamic new nuclear threat environment.  China's nuclear breakout has fundamentally transformed the security landscape.  Russia's nuclear stockpiles continue to grow as well, and the return of great power competition has replaced the bipolar post-Cold War environment of relative geopolitical stability and declining nuclear arsenals with a new tripolar environment that is less stable and more competitive.   This was not the future we anticipated when the plan for nuclear modernization was developed.  We must adapt to these new challenges and supplement our modernization plans with tailored capabilities to address the changing threat environment.  We look forward to hearing more from our witnesses about these issues.

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