ISSUE BRIEF
No. 5338 | JANUARY 23, 2024
DOUGLAS AND SARAH ALLISON CENTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
This paper, in its entirety, can be found at https://report.heritage.org/ib5338
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America’s Ossified Nuclear
Infrastructure Needs an
Overhaul—Now
Robert Peters and Maiya Clark
The U.S. is modernizing its nuclear arse-
nal—but, given the Russian and Chinese
threats, production of plutonium pits for
nuclear warheads is unacceptably delayed.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
If America’s adversaries question the
credibility of its strategic deterrent, the
global order—and America’s role in it—
could be further weakened.
The U.S. must make the produc-
tion of plutonium pits a national
security priority—now.
F
rom the Russian invasion of Ukraine to Chi-
nese aggression in the Western Pacific, the
collapse of nuclear arms control, increasing
rattling of Russia’s nuclear saber, and the horrific mas-
sacre of more than 1,000 civilians in Israel, it is clear
that the global security environment is becoming
not only increasingly challenging, but fundamen-
tally unstable.
At the same time, various groups in recent weeks
have released reports on the United States’ ability
to deter aggression. A congressionally mandated,
bipartisan Strategic Posture Commission released its
final report, in which it articulated a grave and grow-
ing “deterrence gap.”
1
The Department of Defense’s
(DOD’s) report on China’s military power noted that
China has doubled the size of its nuclear arsenal in the
past two and a half years—and the pace of its nuclear
