The Pentagon is set to consider strategic nuclear forces in the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review, weighing them for the first time in a strategy assessment alongside conventional forces, according to defense sources. Previous reviews have examined nuclear forces in adjacent, but separate, looks at U.S. military conventional forces. By pulling strategic weapons programs into the 2005 QDR, nearly $10 billion in annual spending on offensive nuclear strike capabilities will compete against conventional needs. This, said one official, could lead to...
