Wednesday morning, Senator Deb Fischer, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, delivered a keynote address on America’s nuclear posture at The Heritage Foundation.
In her remarks, Senator Fischer underscored the urgency of modernizing our nuclear deterrent in light of threats posed by China and Russia. Senator Fischer highlighted provisions included in the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act from her bipartisan Restoring American Deterrence Act, which would overhaul America’s nuclear preparedness.
“Our aging nuclear deterrent may be the most important issue today that no one is talking about,” Fischer said. “In 1967, our nuclear stockpile was at its peak: 31,255 warheads. That number has decreased almost tenfold since then. And yet, the situation we find ourselves in now is not safer than it was in 1967.”
The Senator noted the main adversaries of the US in North Korea, China, and Russia and the fact that they would likely not stop producing nuclear weapons for the sake of “world peace.” She continued, saying “the day our enemies voluntarily dismantle their nuclear programs because America has done the same. We must be clear on this: that’s a fantasy, a utopian dreamworld.”
Fischer also called out the Biden administration for not “capitalizing on momentum” from the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review in 2018 which required the US to have modern nuclear capabilities. She called for the continuation of the Sentinel ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) program to replace the Minuteman III missiles.
In her final remarks to the Heritage Foundation, Fischer concluded “As the new axis of Russia and China emerges, let’s heed her wisdom—and encourage others to heed it as well. If we invest now in our future safety, the United States can face the threats of Russia, China, and North Korea with confidence. If we do not, the United States will stumble, unprepared and unguarded, into an uncertain future.”