US Strategic Command chief: Sea missile cancellation opens ‘deterrence and assurance gap’
By Joe Gould
Apr 5, 12:38 PM
WASHINGTON ― Following U.S. President Joe Biden’s plans to cancel the Sea-Launched Cruise Missile-Nuclear development program, the U.S. admiral who oversees America’s nuclear forces warned lawmakers Monday he sees “a deterrence and assurance gap.”
In a letter Monday to lawmakers, Adm. Chas Richard, U.S. Strategic Command’s chief, said he was otherwise satisfied with Biden’s fiscal 2023 defense budget proposal, but made the point about the SLCM-N. On Tuesday, it became fodder in an unfolding fight over plans to defund the submarine-launched low-yield missile.
“While I am satisfied USSTRATCOM priorities are adequately addressed, the current situation in Ukraine and China’s nuclear trajectory convinces me a deterrence and assurance gap exists,” Richard wrote.
https://www.navytimes.com/pentagon/2022/04/05/us-strategic-command-chief-sea-missile-cancellation-opens-deterrence-and-assurance-gap/
