§6137 Rapid Capabilities Program

Summary

The Secretary of Energy, through the Administrator and working with the Secretary of Defense, must run a "rapid capabilities program" to develop new or modified nuclear weapons that meet military needs. The program must find fast design ideas, run projects that reach a first production unit within 5 years, use flexible methods and accepted risks to balance cost, schedule, and capability, reuse existing parts and keep production small, avoid disrupting major stockpile modernization work, and build skill inside the nuclear security enterprise to carry out all phases of the joint nuclear weapons life cycle. The Administrator must set up an advisory board made up of senior Defense and military officials, including the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Deterrence, the Joint Staff Director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy, the Director of Navy Strategic Systems Programs, and the Deputy Commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. Every President’s budget submitted to Congress under section 1105 of title 31 must clearly show the amounts requested for this program in the budget justification materials, as required under section 4209. The "joint nuclear weapons life cycle process" means the process the Secretaries of Defense and Energy use for developing, producing, maintaining, and retiring nuclear weapons.