GAO assisting nuclear arsenal budget estimate prep

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is assisting the Departments of Defense and Energy in updating 10-year nuclear arsenal cost estimates and reporting them to Congress.

GAO officials said an essential element of the effort involves capturing fundamental programmatic changes in nuclear weapon modernization plans resulting from the February 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which establishes policy on U.S. nuclear forces.

GAO assessment of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) and Department of Energy’s (DOE) budget estimating methodologies determined the departments had taken some steps to address the GAO’s prior recommendations on their methods, though the recommendations have not been adequately addressed.

The strategic missiles, submarines, and aircraft are aging and being deployed beyond their intended service lives, officials said. Any of the critical facilities for nuclear weapons research, development, and production date back to the 1940s and 1950s, revealing that estimates show nuclear sustainment and modernization efforts are expected to cost billions of dollars over the next decade.

Section 1043 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012 requires the President, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy, to submit a report on the plan for the nuclear weapons stockpile, complex, delivery systems, and command and control system for each of fiscal years 2013 through 2023.

GAO officials said the agency analyzed the budget data underlying the estimates in the joint report, assessed DOD’s and DOE’s implementation of our prior recommendations on budget estimating methodologies, and met with DOD and DOE officials regarding the analysis.