Triad Threats

The head of U.S. Strategic Command today outlined three threats to the nuclear triad: external ones like state and non-state actors wishing to acquire weapons of mass destruction, the systemic aging of the triad's components, and budget constraints.

On the second one, Adm. Cecil Haney said he plans to host a "stakeholder meeting" with the leadership of the strategic nuclear bomber community next month. As InsideDefense.com reports:

The meeting is the third in a series of meetings Adm. Cecil Haney will have held with the three legs of the nuclear triad, the STRATCOM chief said during a Sept. 18 speech in Washington.

"We cannot afford a technical failure that renders a leg of the triad unreliable," Haney said, adding: "Sustainment efforts cannot last forever, which necessitates moving forward with modernization. To work through some of these very complex issues, we at Strategic Command recently hosted a ballistic missile submarine -- and separately one for land-based ballistic missiles -- stakeholder meeting.

"It was extremely valuable to meet with the leaders of these communities who fully understand our corporate challenges and are committed to charting the best way forward," he continued. "We had some very, very frank discussions on how best we could sustain and modernize these platforms and components, and I look forward to similar discussions with our bomber leadership in . . . October."