Restoring American Deterrence Act seeks nuclear overhauls to deter China and Russia

Focused on China and Russia as the combined threats of the present and future, a group of senators recently introduced the Restoring American Deterrence Act to revise United States nuclear preparedness and update deterrence strategies.

The bill was based on recommendations from the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, which was assembled by Congress in 2023 to review the country’s strategic posture, including nuclear weapons policy, strategy and force structure. It was the second commission of its kind, following the first in 2009. The goal, in both cases: figuring out how to move forward.

“We need to take action today to meet the threats of tomorrow,” U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), one of the bill’s creators and a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said. “Our current strategy is based on flawed, outdated assumptions from 2010 that will not be enough to effectively deter our peer nuclear adversaries like China and Russia in the future. The bipartisan Restoring American Deterrence Act is the landmark solution we need. Our legislation lays a solid foundation for the Departments of Defense and Energy to maintain a safe, reliable, and credible deterrent for decades to come.”

Cosponsors on the legislation included Angus King (I-ME), Chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee and Roger Wicker (R-MS), Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee.

The report that prompted the legislation concluded that China and Russia are both at the cusp of becoming nuclear peer adversaries of the U.S. Both, it added, seek to change the international status quo by force, if necessary.

“It is an existential challenge for which the United States is ill-prepared, unless its leaders make decisions now to adjust the U.S. strategic posture,” the Commissioners wrote.

Among other things, the Restoring American Deterrence Act therefore calls for updated force sizing requirements at the Department of Defense, development of a national workforce strategy for promote development of skilled manufacturing and vocational trade workforce, and amending the Defense Production Act to increase its threshold from $750 million to $1.5 billion and up the loan guarantee threshold as well.

Further, it asks for plans to modernize the Integrated Tactical Warning System and Attack Assessment system, develop a comprehensive National Integrated Air and Missile Defense strategy, and prepare for possible deployment of an additional 50 Sentinel ICBMs. On top of some restructuring, the bill also would require the Secretary of Energy to evaluate two to four domestic locations for uranium enrichment facilities.