Representative Heather Wilson: “there is a fundamental question here, and that is what is the role of nuclear weapons in America's national defense?…”

“there is a fundamental question here, and that is what is the role of nuclear weapons in America's national defense? Nuclear weapons have been an important part of deterrence over the last 40 years, and the key to their effectiveness is that we need to be able to hold at risk the things that people most value, particularly the leaders of countries whose interests and whose values are very different from our own. And the reality is that those countries are burrowing in their command and control facilities, their chemical weapons, their missiles; and we must continue to hold those at risk. Over 10 years ago under the Clinton administration, they identified the need for this new capability and had begun the process of studying it. But let us be very clear. This is not a new nuclear weapon. In fact, under the Clinton administration, they looked at using an existing nuclear bomb called a B-61 and hardening it. This is an extension of that idea so that it would be hardened even further so that it could penetrate further and hold those targets at risk. Bipartisan majorities of the Congress and two Presidents from two different parties have seen this need and the need to study whether this can be done. But the military has as well. In 1994 the Strategic Command came out with a missions-need statement that said they have to develop new ways to hold these targets at risk.”