NNSA officials: stockpile cuts won’t mean budget cuts

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s managers paid a visit to the House Appropriations subcommittee in charge of their budget today, explaining that contemplated nuclear stockpile reductions won’t necessarily mean corresponding budget reductions.

Douglas Guarino of Global Security Newswire has a rundown:

A top National Nuclear Security Administration official suggested on Thursday that cutting the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal will not necessarily save money for the complex that supports those weapons.

The comments came from Don Cook, formerly of Sandia Labs and now head of Defense Programs at NNSA.

According to Cook, there are “sizable fixed costs across the national security complex and the variable costs are much smaller.” For that reason, “not much savings will be achieved” alongside what he described as “very important steps forward in improving the safety and security of our nuclear weapons.” However, efforts to modernize the nuclear weapons infrastructure could result in cost savings in the long term due to increased efficiencies, he said.

Read the whole thing for a more details (and GSN is worth a follow if you’re trying to keep up with these fast-moving issues).