Triad

The United States nuclear weapons complex is complicated and very large. Because of this, there are certain government agencies that help to regulate, or control, the nuclear weapons. Those agencies that have a role regarding the nation’s nuclear weapons are the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Commerce, Homeland Security, Department of State (DOS), and most importantly, the Department of Defense (DOD) (whitehouse.gov).

To public eye nuclear weapons are considered to be extremely dangerous, thus they should be handled with great caution and precision. However, there are occasions where mistakes have almost led to a nuclear detonation. What is more surprising, such events have taken place here in the United States. In 1961 two nuclear bombs were dropped on a field in North Carolina, luckily detonation did not occur. Nuclear bombs have been left with no supervision on airfields, jets carrying these weapons have exploded or ran off the warship, generals have been relieved from their duties because of mishandling information about nuclear weapons or being very neglectful, and the list goes on. In a complicated system errors will occur, however such errors should be limited to minimum.

The United States’ nuclear weapons complex is large and complicated. The agencies involved in varying aspects of nuclear weapons issues include the Departments of Energy, Defense, State, Commerce, and Homeland Security. The Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration is the principal U.S. Government agency responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of U.S. nuclear weapons. The Department of Energy was established by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 in response to the energy crisis affecting the country during his term in office. While many Americans identify nuclear weapons with the Department of Defense, the role of which will be discussed, the Department of Energy inherited responsibility for all nuclear

The Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a treaty signed by one hundred and ninety states used to slow down the spread of a large number of nuclear weapons while promoting the use of nuclear technologies in peaceful ways such as energy. Its purpose is to keep nuclear technology in “Nuclear States” or trusted countries until a long-term goal of total disarmament can be reached. Even though it tries to bring about nuclear disarmament, the NPT is a threat to the modern world. It is currently speculated that the United States has the most stockpiled Nuclear weapons with Russia being a close second. Each of these countries has “thousands of known stockpiled nuclear weapons with the next closest state having just a few hundred” (Rising Powers

The Department of Defense plays a large role in its responsibility with nuclear weapons. They are assigned with creating policies that aligns with the NPR (Nuclear Posture Review) to minimize the amount of nuclear weapons that are used in our defense (whitehouse.gov). The DOD is responsible for creating a better plan that utilizes more non-nuclear weaponry and strategy for defending our country. They have to maintain plans and procedures for the use of weapons of mass destruction and it be a last resort type weapon. The DOD is responsible for ensuring the safety of these weapons and making sure they stay where they are stored. This department must maintain these guidelines in

The instrument of nuclear deterrence has been the primary reason that no full scale war between major world powers has taken place since WWII. Ensuring the credibility of the United States nuclear arsenal is the best way for the nation to secure future peace. Advances in nuclear physics, computational modeling, and engineering have made full nuclear-explosive testing unnecessary to maintain the nuclear

The U.S. Strategic command which is established in Omaha, Nebraska is also responsible for correlating the operation’s of each branch of the armed forces nuclear weapon’s. Within the Office of the Secretary of Defense a number of agencies that deal with nuclear weapons … including the Missile Defense Agency, who’s mission is to develop technology in order to successfully shoot down incoming nuclear missiles fired by hostile country’s. The office of the Assistant of Defense for Policy, is involved in negotiating nuclear arms control agreements with foreign governments, as well as guiding the use of nuclear weapons. The Department of State (DOS) serves as the President’s top foreign policy advisor, and is the official diplomatic arm of the United States, The DOS is responsible for the negotiation of nuclear arms control agreements, which works closely with the Defense Department and military

Protecting the United States from Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction through the National Missile Defense Program

Non-Proliferation policy derives from the Non-Proliferation treaty, “it is an international treaty with the objective to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament”(UNODA) . First signed in 1968, the treaty officially began in 1970. as agreed in the treaty, after 25 years there was a meeting which concluded with the extension of the Non proliferation treat indefinitely. The treaty has open knowledge of 5 states holding nuclear-weapons and of their exact quantities they are; the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China and France these are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The Non proliferation treaty is split into two articles. Article 1 with regard to the nuclear positive states and their agreements, Article 2 states the course for the Non nuclear states.

The United States can have fewer nuclear weapons without putting our nations security in jeopardy. If we have just a little less nuclear power we could still have power over other countries but not too much power. However, some may argue that having a lot of nuclear weapons on and keeps the United States safe from harm. Robert Spalding said, “The U.S. nuclear force exists to keep a threshold on the level of violence.” While nuclear weapons are a useful source of defense, it’s still overdone to the point where it’s too much. The Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States defense, even thinks the nation should reduce its nuclear weapon number. Garwin and Gronlund said in their article, “According to news reports, the Pentagon has concluded that the United States can meet its security needs with fewer deployed weapons - perhaps 1,000.” If our country isn’t using our extra nuclear weapons, we could afford to get rid of only 1,000 of them. As of November,

The Department of Defense is the other main agency with responsibility for our nuclear weapons. The personnel that operate these weapons

The Executive departments that have a role in regards to the nation’s nuclear weapons are the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Commerce, Department of State, and Homeland Security. Each of these departments places a large deficit on U.S. budget to ensure that the nation’s security is secure, and not compromised, through nuclear deterrence.

In 21st century, both the United Kingdom and France have recently initiated programs to revitalize their nuclear complexes and maintain their nuclear forces well. What's about in the U.S.? Nuclear forces continue to represent the ultimate deterrent capability that supports U.S. national security. Both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and in Asia, assure allies and friends of the credibility of U.S. security commitments. However, in loophole of the nuclear umbrella agreement, non-nuclear states might develop and deploy their own nuclear capability. U.S. announced

It has now been seven years since the President gave his speech in Prague. A year after his speech, in April 6 2010, the Obama administration released a Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). The NPR emphasizes on the need to counter nuclear proliferation and terrorism and stresses on keeping other countries from acquiring Nuclear weapons. It also reduces the role of Nuclear

Several hundred Soviet, nuclear tipped, ballistic missiles streak towards the United States without any form of opposition or challenge to their impeding destruction. The result of a situation like this would be no doubt disastrous, but it is a situation that could very well take place if the United States does not install a national ballistic missile defense program. An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system is a precaution that the American government must pursue with all of its resources in order to protect and preserve our society as we know it.