11 Mar 16. Strategic Deterrence Requires Long-Term Approach, Stratcom Commander Tells SASC. Navy Adm. Cecil D. Haney testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee here yesterday on Stratcom’s fiscal year 2017 budget, stressing that it’s critical to modernize the nuclear deterrent capabilities that underpin national security.
“Future deterrence scenarios will likely include multiple adversaries operating across multiple domains and using anti-access [and] area denial, asymmetric warfare and escalate-to-deescalate tactics,” he said. “These trends affect strategic stability.”
Haney said that adversaries and potential adversaries challenge U.S. democratic values and security and are modernizing and expanding their nuclear capabilities, developing and testing counter-space and cyberspace technologies and advancing conventional and asymmetric weapons.
“Given all of this,” the admiral said, “the missions of U.S. Strategic Command remain important to our joint military forces, to our nation and our allies and partners.”
Strategic Deterrence
Comprehensive strategic deterrence and assurance and escalation control are more than nuclear weapons and platforms, Haney said, adding that deterrence includes a robust intelligence apparatus, space, cyberspace, conventional and missile defense capabilities and comprehensive plans that coherently link organizations.
Every day, Stratcom engages in activities across mission areas that guide his command priorities, Haney said, including intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, combating weapons of mass destruction, joint electronic warfare and analysis and targeting.
“Achieving comprehensive strategic deterrence, assurance and escalation control require a long-term approach to investing in capabilities and a multigenerational commitment to intellectual capital,” he told the panel.
Haney said it’s important for the nation to have adequate strategic deterrence and assurance mechanisms, methodologies and capabilities.
Air Leg of the Triad
For the air leg of the triad, the admiral said, the platforms must be appropriately armed to be credible, including the B-52 aircraft and the B-2 — both of which will be flying for some time to come — along with the long-range strike bomber stealth aircraft.
“Even while we have stealth aircraft it’s important that we have standoff capability,” the admiral said.
“As we watch our adversaries work to have better anti-access and area denial kinds of capabilities, we must have standoff in order to manage strategic stability. As a result, I see the long-range standoff option being critical to all [triad] platforms — all three of them.”
It’s important to move forward with the new long-range strike bomber as a replacement bomber, Haney added, because the B-52s flying today rolled off the assembly line in 1962.
Stealth Platform
Even the B-2 fleet is about 25 years old, he said, “So it’s important that we’re able to have that capability, that stealth platform, to deliver nuclear and conventional missions.”
On the submarine-launched ballistic missile arm of the triad, Haney said the “building and capability needed in terms of the Ohio replacement SSBN is a top priority.” Having conventional capability across the joint military force is also important, and it’s important to get the balance right, he added.
“I depend upon a strong submarine in all [its] capabilities, but in particular to have that strategic survivable capability underwater is very important to our nation as a whole,” he said.
Fiscal 2017 Budget
The president’s fiscal 2017 budget proposal strikes a responsible balance between national priorities and fiscal realities, Haney told the panel, and it begins to reduce some of the risks that have accumulated because of deferred maintenance and sustainment.
“This budget supports my mission requirements, but there is no margin to absorb new risk,” Haney added. “Any cuts to that budget will hamper our ability to sustain and modernize our for