Press

Click here or on the image above to view and download Senator Fischer’s exchange with General Hyten.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), chairman of the Strategic Forces subcommittee, today questioned General John Hyten, the Commander of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), during a full hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The hearing focused on STRATCOM’s mission and key challenges facing our nation’s strategic forces. Click here for video of today’s exchange.

As the Department of Defense begins to conduct the first Nuclear Posture Review since 2010, Senator Fischer and General Hyten discussed changes to the geopolitical environment that have taken place in the last 7 years and their implications for U.S. nuclear force posture. Key points of their discussion today include:

Adversaries Have Not Matched U.S. Efforts to Reduce the Role of Nuclear Weapons

  • General Hyten: “I look at the evidence, and the evidence is that when we deemphasize nuclear weapons, both our primary adversaries, both increased their focus on nuclear weapons.”

Modernization of Our Nuclear Forces Remains Vital

  • General Hyten: “Even though our adversaries have modernized their nuclear capabilities, we still have an effective deterrent. The question is will we have an effective deterrent 10 years from now or 20 years from now. The answer to that has to be yes, and that’s why we have to modernize and that’s why it has to be a significant priority for this country. Deterrence is going to be expensive but war is always more expensive than deterrence.”

Expectations for the New Nuclear Posture Review

  • General Hyten: “The nuclear posture review should look at the entire enterprise. It should also look at things beyond what’s in the triad. What do we have to do to respond to the INF breakout? What do we have to do to respond to a new ground launch cruise missile? Hypersonic glide vehicles are threats that both Russia and China are building now that are very significant in terms of our ability to see them and provide warning. We need to figure out how to deal with those. But I think the baseline is the triad and the baseline is modernizing the triad.”
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