I have some more information on the “follow-on white paper” to Maintaining Deterrence in the 21st Century, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the RRW—the cabinet level statement on nuclear policy signed by Bodman, Gates and Rice.
The “Follow-On White Paper”, which will include classified appendices, is already in draft form. I guess the initial meeting for editing and coordination was held on July 25 and should be distributed on late August or early September.
The paper has four sections: (1) The New Security Environment, (2) Sizing Forces and Infrastructure, (3) Knowledge Points or Milestones, and my favorite (4) Dispelling Myths.
“Dispelling myths” has deservedly elicited a lot of groans. Not that I have anything against an Administration official brave enough to do battle with a strawman. It gives me the opportunity to point out he or she is picking on someone his own size, intellectually speaking.
Anyway, I have a list of the “myths” to be dispelled as of today. Not surprisingly, the myths are carefully worded to avoid any resemblance to the concerns of actual human beings, living or dead:
- Does US security posture rely heavily on nuclear forces?
- Isn’t the failure to sign new arms control agreements encouraging proliferation?
- Why isn’t the US reducing its nuclear arsenal?
- Are US nuclear forces on hair trigger alert?
- Is the US building new, more dangerous nuclear weapons?
- If RRW will not require testing, can the US ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty?
These are, I note, draft myths that may change in the course of editing—as is evidenced by the odd use of “can” in the last “myth” when the authors really means “should.” (Unless the authors really do know someone who believes the Senate’s constitutional role to provide advice and consent to treaties is somehow contingent on the progress of technical programs at one of the labs.)