This is the accessible text file for GAO report number GAO-15-89R 
entitled 'Nuclear Weapons: DOD's Plan for Implementing Nuclear 
Reductions Generally Addresses Statutory Requirements but Lacks Some 
Detail' which was released on December 11, 2014. 

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GAO-15-89R: 

[End of section] 

United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO:
441 G St. N.W. 
Washington, DC 20548: 

December 11, 2014: 

Congressional Committees: 

Nuclear Weapons: DOD's Plan for Implementing Nuclear Reductions 
Generally Addresses Statutory Requirements but Lacks Some Detail: 

Nuclear weapons have long been a cornerstone of the nation's defense 
strategy. These weapons--deployed on strategic delivery systems, such 
as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched 
ballistic missiles (SLBM), and nuclear-capable aircraft--have played 
an essential role in U.S. policy for deterring potential adversaries 
and assuring U.S. allies and other security partners that they can 
count on America's security commitments. At the same time, arms 
control agreements and strategic policies have led the United States 
to maintain its nuclear deterrent capability with decreasing numbers 
of weapons and strategic delivery systems. In his April 2009 speech in 
Prague, the President spoke of the United States' commitment to 
seeking a world without nuclear weapons. The 2010 Nuclear Posture 
Review Report (NPR) outlined the administration's approach to 
maintaining the U.S. nuclear deterrent capability while pursuing 
further reductions in nuclear weapons.[Footnote 1] The NPR report 
focused on five key objectives; one of these objectives, maintaining 
strategic deterrence and stability at reduced nuclear force levels, 
emphasizes the importance of bilateral and verifiable reductions in 
strategic nuclear weapons in coordination with Russia. In support of 
this objective, the United States signed a new Strategic Arms 
Reduction Treaty with Russia--known as New START--on April 8, 2010, 
which entered into force on February 5, 2011.[Footnote 2] 

Section 1042 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
2012 required the Department of Defense (DOD) to submit a plan to the 
congressional defense committees, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, 
and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for implementing the 
nuclear force reductions, limitations, and verification and 
transparency measures contained in New START.[Footnote 3] In April 
2014, DOD submitted a report on its plan to implement New START. 
Section 1042 also mandates that we submit a review of DOD's plan. 
[Footnote 4] This report assesses the extent to which DOD's report 
includes the elements required by the mandate. 

This report is a public version of a classified report that we are 
issuing concurrently. This report omits information on alternative 
force structures DOD considered for implementing New START and our 
detailed analysis of DOD's report, which DOD deemed to be classified. 
Although the information provided in this report is more limited in 
scope, the overall methodology used for both reports is the same. 

To address our objective, two analysts independently reviewed DOD's 
April 2014 report on its plan to implement New START--Report on Plan 
to Implement the Nuclear Force Reductions, Limitations, and 
Verification and Transparency Measures Contained in the New START 
Treaty Specified in Section 1042 of the National Defense Authorization 
Act for Fiscal Year 2012--which contains DOD's strategic force 
structure plans to comply with the requirements of the treaty. 
[Footnote 5] We compared the report to the requirements in section 
1042 to determine the extent to which DOD's plan addresses the 
required elements. 

We conducted this performance audit from July 2014 to December 2014 in 
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 
sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe 
that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our 
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

In summary, we found that DOD's Section 1042 report addresses or 
partially addresses the required elements; however, DOD did not 
include additional detail, including certain information on costs and 
verification and transparency measures, which would more fully inform 
congressional decision-makers on the department's plan for 
implementing New START. 

Agency Comments: 

We are not making recommendations in this report. We provided a draft 
of this report to DOD for review and comment. In response DOD provided 
technical comments, which we have incorporated as appropriate. 

We are providing copies of this report to the appropriate 
congressional committees, the Secretary of the Defense, Secretary of 
the Air Force, Secretary of the Navy, Joint Staff, and Under Secretary 
of Defense for Policy. In addition, this report is available at no 
charge on the GAO website at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov]. 

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please 
contact me at (202) 512-9971 or kirschbaumj@gao.gov. Contact points 
for our Office of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be 
found on the last page of this report. Key contributors to this report 
were Penney Harwell Caramia (Assistant Director), Jonathan Gill, 
Joanne Landesman, Brian Mazanec, Timothy Persons, Jeffrey Phillips, 
Steven Putansu, Michael Shaughnessy, Amie Steele, and Sam Wilson. 

Signed by: 

Joseph Kirschbaum: 
Director: 
Defense Capabilities and Management: 

List of Committees: 

The Honorable Carl Levin: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable James M. Inhofe: 
Ranking Member: 
Committee on Armed Services: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Richard J. Durbin: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Thad Cochran: 
Ranking Member: 
Subcommittee on Defense: 
Committee on Appropriations: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Howard P. "Buck" McKeon: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Adam Smith: 
Ranking Member: 
Committee on Armed Services: 
House of Representatives: 

The Honorable Rodney Frelinghuysen: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Pete Visclosky: 
Ranking Member: 
Subcommittee on Defense: 
Committee on Appropriations: 
House of Representatives: 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] Section 1070 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
Year 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-181 (2008), required the Secretary of 
Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy and the 
Secretary of State, to conduct a comprehensive review of the nuclear 
posture of the United States for the next 5 to 10 years. The 
Department of Defense published the conclusions and recommendations 
from that review in the April 2010 Nuclear Posture Review Report. 

[2] Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of 
Strategic Offensive Arms, U.S.-Russ., Apr. 8, 2010, T.I.A.S. No. 11-
205. 

[3] Pub. L. No. 112-81, § 1042(a) (2011). Section 1042 required DOD to 
submit the plan not later than 30 days from the date of enactment. 

[4] § 1042(c). 

[5] Department of Defense, Report on Plan to Implement the Nuclear 
Force Reductions, Limitations, and Verification and Transparency 
Measures Contained in the New START Treaty Specified in Section 1042 
of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (April 
2014). 

[End of section] 

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