April 15, 2008
Representative Peter J. Visclosky, Chairman
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
2362-B Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Visclosky,
We ask you to eliminate funding related to research, design, and development of the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program in FY09.
As your Subcommittee correctly identified last year, the United States has no comprehensive nuclear weapons policy in place that accounts for the increasing risks of nuclear weapons proliferation or the reduced role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security. Research, design, and development of a new nuclear warhead could prove to be inconsistent with the revised comprehensive nuclear weapons strategy and stockpile reduction plan that Congress has directed the Executive Branch to deliver to Congress. Congressional action now to fund such a program could prejudge and undermine the integrity of the policy review.
We urge your Subcommittee to deny the Energy Department's (DOE) request for the RRW of $10 million under the Directed Stockpile Work account for FY09, and either eliminate or prohibit RRW-related funding in the Advanced Certification, Enhanced Surety, and Pit Manufacturing Capability programs.
We oppose research within the Advanced Certification campaign that would continue efforts to certify a new Reliable Replacement Warhead, but support efforts to establish a more independent peer review mechanism for certification in general.
We oppose work in the Pit Manufacturing Capability program that would “develop the processes and equipment necessary to manufacture the RRW pit,” as the administration's budget request states.
We also ask that you again make clear that your bill is providing no funds for the Reliable Replace Warhead. Similar language was included in the Joint Explanatory Statement to the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY08: “The amended bill provides no funds for the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW)”.
We believe the concerns raised by the Energy Department over long-term stockpile certification and surety should be addressed within the existing Life Extension Programs. As you know, the nuclear stockpile continues to be certified annually as safe and reliable by the Secretaries of Defense and Energy. There is no need to replace the plutonium pits in warheads, which have been found to have lifetimes of at least a century. The Energy Department continues to acknowledge that the Stockpile Stewardship Program and the Life Extension Programs are working. Furthermore, introducing changes to the design or manufacturing processes of the core nuclear explosive package, as proposed in the RRW design, will inevitably introduce new uncertainties and increase pressure for the United States to return to underground nuclear testing.
Last year, your Subcommittee created the Advanced Certification campaign to address the stockpile certification concerns raised by the September 7, 2007 review of RRW by the JASON Defense Advisory Group. As you know, the JASONs concluded that certification of the proposed RRW design without nuclear testing—the fundamental premise of the RRW program—is “not yet assured.” We believe DOE can address the stockpile certification concerns raised by the JASON review without further development of the RRW design. The Joint Explanatory Statement to the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY09 also reached this conclusion. By creating the Advanced Certification campaign to address these certification issues and simultaneously zeroing out funding for further RRW research, design, and development, your Subcommittee (in conjunction with your Senate counterpart) determined that these issues could be pursued without advancement of the RRW program.
Additionally, further development of RRW would seriously undermine the credibility of U.S. leadership on nonproliferation and disarmament. Former Senator Sam Nunn's 2007 testimony before your Subcommittee remains relevant:
“[I]f Congress gives a green light to this [RRW] program in our current world environment, I believe that this will be: misunderstood by our allies; exploited by our adversaries; and complicate our work to prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons.”
Again, we urge you to take the same course of action as last year and eliminate funding for the research, design, and development of the Reliable Replacement Warhead program in the Energy Department budget for FY09.
We thank you and Ranking Member David Hobson for your strong leadership and appreciate your consideration of these issues again this year.
Sincerely,
Susan Gordon, Director
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
Daryl Kimball, Executive Director
Arms Control Association
Ambassador Robert Grey Jr., Director
Bipartisan Security Group
Paul Ingram, Executive Director
British American Security Information Council
T. Michael McNulty, SJ, Justice and Peace Director
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
John Isaacs, Executive Director
Council for a Livable World
Maureen Shea, Director, Office of Government Relations
Episcopal Church
Mary Minette, Director of Environmental Education and Advocacy
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Jessica Wilbanks, Coordinator
Faithful Security: The National Religious Partnership on the Nuclear Weapons Danger
Henry Kelly, President
Federation of American Scientists
Joe Volk, Executive Secretary
Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers)
Dr. Paul F. Walker, Legacy Program Director
Global Green USA
Sr. Marie Lucey, OSF, Associate Director for Social Mission
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach, Director, Washington Office
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
Christopher E. Paine, Nuclear Program Director
Natural Resources Defense Council
Sr. Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive Director
NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Dave Robinson, Executive Director
Pax Christi USA: National Catholic Peace Movement
Kevin Martin, Executive Director
Peace Action
Jon Rainwater, Executive Director
Peace Action West
Michael McCally, MD, Executive Director
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Terri Lodge, Director of Government Affairs
Ploughshares Fund
Sara Pottschmidt Lisherness, Director, Peace and Justice Ministries
General Assembly Council
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Lisbeth Gronlund, Co-Director and Senior Scientist, Global Security Program
Union of Concerned Scientists
Rob Keithan, Director, Washington Office for Advocacy
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Lois M. Powell, Team Leader
United Church of Christ, Justice & Witness Ministries
James E. Winkler, General Secretary
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
Susan Shaer, Executive Director
Women's Action for New Directions
cc: Ranking Member David L. Hobson
