By Rich Kozlovich
President-elect Joe Biden's defense secretary nominee, Lloyd Austin, dodged questions from senators about how he would update America's nuclear weapons as China and Russia increase their own stockpiles............."I look forward to getting on board if confirmed and having an ability to kind of look under the hood and see exactly what we're doing with our nuclear forces," Austin told Fischer............Fischer, the chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee overlooking nuclear weapons, told the Washington Free Beacon the time for nuclear modernization has long passed.
"As threats continue to grow, and Russia and China expand their nuclear forces, the need for modernization has only increased," Fischer said. "While some longstanding opponents are renewing their calls for reductions or delays, the Biden administration should recognize that these voices are well outside the mainstream and base its approach on a clear-eyed, objective assessment of the facts."
He went on to note:
Tim Morrison, a Hudson Institute senior fellow and former Trump administration arms-control official, echoed Fischer's sentiments. Morrison said the growing influence of progressives in the Democratic Party may limit Biden's ability to keep pace with the ambitious—and costly—technological advances of countries such as China. He said the "disarmament fantasies" of some influential Democrats could prove "destabilizing."
"The Russians and the Chinese are in
the midst of an arms race," "The chief question for the
Biden administration is whether it will stick to the disarmament
fantasies of the progressive left or will it align itself with the
bipartisan consensus to modernize the U.S. nuclear deterrent begun by
President Obama and carried forward by President Trump."
What will he do? Who knows, but he represents a dangerous mind set.
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