{"id":35653,"date":"2018-02-08T17:25:20","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T17:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/08\/gao-says-nuclear-warhead-office-still-cant-afford-planned-modernization\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:55:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:55:39","slug":"gao-says-nuclear-warhead-office-still-cant-afford-planned-modernization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/nuclear-triad\/2018\/02\/08\/gao-says-nuclear-warhead-office-still-cant-afford-planned-modernization\/","title":{"rendered":"GAO says nuclear warhead office still can\u2019t afford planned modernization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Washington \u2015 The National Nuclear Security Agency continues to underestimate how much funding it needs to update and maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal, according to an updated government watchdog report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Government Accountability Office on Feb. 6 released an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/690\/689889.pdf\" title=\"\" class=\"selected-link\">updated version<\/a> of a previous report, which addresses the misalignment of NNSA\u2019s expected nuclear modernization costs and budgetary requests. The NNSA is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2018\/01\/24\/interview-nuke-warhead-chief-talks-risk-of-nuclear-war\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">quasi-independent branch<\/a> of the Department of Energy that manages the U.S. nuclear stockpile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In some cases, the difference between projected funding and expected modernization costs is billions of dollars. Those concerns are in line with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2017\/04\/28\/nuclear-warhead-modernization-needs-funding-increase-gao-finds\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">original April 2017 version<\/a> of the report, which warned \u201cbudget estimates for some modernization programs for fiscal years 2018 through 2021 are more than $5 billion below the funding levels NNSA has identified needing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the near-term, this means that the NNSA will have to defer modernization work which \u201ccould increase modernization costs and schedule risks,\u201d according to the GAO. If the NNSA had to defer this work, the result would be what the GAO identified as a \u201cbow wave\u201d \u2015 an increase in future years\u2019 estimated budget needs that occurs when an agency undertakes more programs than their resources can support. <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/nuclear-triad\/2018\/01\/23\/as-trump-seeks-new-nuke-options-weapons-agency-head-warns-of-capacity-overload\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3741696.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">As Trump seeks new nuke options, weapons agency head warns of capacity overload<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">In an exclusive exit interview, Frank Klotz, who retired on Jan. 19 as the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, warns that his agency is stretched to the limit.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Frank Klotz, the recently retired former head of the NNSA, these are exactly problems the agency faces right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve never done more than one [warhead] life extension program (LEP) at a time, since the end of the Cold War. We\u2019re now doing essentially four,\u201d Klotz told Defense News in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2018\/01\/24\/interview-nuke-warhead-chief-talks-risk-of-nuclear-war\/\">exclusive exit interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re pretty much <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/2016\/02\/05\/is-the-pentagon-s-budget-about-to-be-nuked\/\">at capacity<\/a> in terms of people, although we\u2019re hiring more. We\u2019re pretty much at capacity in terms of the materials that we need to do this work. And pretty much at capacity in terms of hours in the day at our facilities to do this work,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moreover, the GAO notes the NNSA previously shifted the modernization bow wave beyond current Future-Years Nuclear Security Program (FYNSP) for FY 17 to FY21 to the FYNSP out-period in each of its last four Stockpile and Nuclear Management Plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kicking this can down the road only exacerbates future budget shortfalls. As delayed programs strain future budgets, important LEPs are likely to be severally underfunded. The GAO reports that LEPs for the B61-12, W80-4, and W88 Alteration 370 are all underfunded by at least $1 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This updated report follows the release of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/02\/02\/nuclear-posture-review-puts-russia-firmly-in-crosshairs\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Nuclear Posture Review<\/a>, which was criticized by some members of the nuclear community for leaving out <a href=\"https:\/\/media.defense.gov\/2018\/Feb\/02\/2001872886\/-1\/-1\/1\/2018-NUCLEAR-POSTURE-REVIEW-FINAL-REPORT.PDF\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. nuclear modernization programs on certain graphs (p. 8)<\/a>, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nktpnd\/status\/960992163294261249\" title=\"\" class=\"selected-link\" target=\"_blank\" data-original-title=\"\" aria-describedby=\"popover857176\">including Taiwan as part of China and omitting the Russia-administered Kuril Islands<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The government watchdog warns that the agency has not taken steps to address the wide gaps in requested funding and the expected costs of several nuclear modernization programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":125,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[44,8,160,36,125,19,23,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1233],"class_list":["post-35653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-budget","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-nuclear-triad","category-pentagon","category-space","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"RPCE2GPKNVGZ7LERM3J57U3IXI","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2018\/02\/08\/gao-says-nuclear-warhead-office-still-cant-afford-planned-modernization\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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