Opinion Today: Who will bring America’s nuclear arsenal into the future?

A nuclear program is also a jobs program, but what is the meaning of that work?

View in browser|nytimes.com October 10, 2024 An-My Lê for The New York Times By Kathleen Kingsbury Opinion Editor It's a gamble that began in 2010 under President Barack Obama. A year earlier, Obama had accepted a Nobel Peace Prize in part for his pledges to reduce and seek to eliminate nuclear weapons. Now, he was laying down the foundation for a nearly $2 trillion, 30-year nationwide plan to replenish America's aging arsenal. It's an investment that could dwarf the cost, in today's dollars, of the interstate highway system, the Hoover Dam and the 2022 CHIPS Act — combined. The Obama administration believed that the newer weapons would be more reliable and that rebuilding the nuclear complex would pave the way to new arms agreements. Instead? The world is entering a dangerous new nuclear arms race, and the United States is front and center. As Russia and China also work to build up their own stockpiles, America's leaders are for the first time in four decades considering growing the U.S. weapons arsenal, rather than just replacing the old ones, as the last remaining major nuclear-arms treaty between Washington and Moscow expires in February 2026. Today, in the latest installment in "At The Brink," Opinion's ongoing series, my colleague W.J. Hennigan takes us on a tour of Obama's dramatic overhaul and how it is beginning to reshape the national landscape. Hennigan introduces us to the fifth graders in Connecticut in the photo at the top of this newsletter. It may appear that they are watching a science experiment or an art project, but, in fact, they're participating in a far more surprising curriculum put on by an even more jaw-dropping instructor: the defense contractor General Dynamics. The company isn't looking to train the next generation of bridge builders. The children are being introduced to the very skills that they — or someone else — will need to replace and maintain the country's nuclear submarine fleet. Because the nuclear weapons program is also a jobs program, and in order to make sure there are enough skilled workers to support it, that program must start early. Since their creation, the building of atomic bombs and their infrastructure has fueled local economies, with technical skills often passed from parent to child. Each link in that supply chain is a matter of local pride in a company town. The civilians who maintain these weapons and weapons systems are just as critical — perhaps more so — to national security as the people who actually push the button. Zoom out, however, and all these Americans are part of the mechanism that keeps the nuclear balance. This enormous endeavor has received little public attention or discussion. As President Dwight Eisenhower famously warned, every dollar spent on weapons is one not spent on building schools, roads, homes and hospitals. The kids in Connecticut — and in practically every congressional district with a strong industrial base — could be learning how to weld bridges or high-rises. Instead, they're being taught to build and maintain things with only one use: weapons of war. That's the paradox at the heart of nuclear strategy. A nation's perpetual readiness for all-out thermonuclear war will hopefully ensure an endless peace. But will all this spending and industrial growth make the world safer, or move us closer to destruction? It is a question that will haunt us as we pass it on to future generations. Read more: An-My Lê for The New York Times The Staggering Price You're Paying for America's Nuclear Makeover The $1.7 trillion overhaul is already underway. By W.J. 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