U.S. nuclear deterrence is no more effective than our ability to carry out nuclear operations and other states’ perceptions of this ability. If weapons are not reliable, delivery systems are grounded, or personnel become inadequately trained, deterrence can dangerously degrade. We use the termsustainment of the nuclear mission(or capabilities) to describe processes and actions that ensure the nuclear deterrence mission into the future. We contrast this definition with that of the sustainment of aplatform, broadening the concept of sustainment to mean the sustainment of the doctrine (and policy), organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities...

Although fully implementing the framework described in Chapter One for the sustainment of the Air Force nuclear mission is an ambitious endeavor, most of the basic elements are already in place. Nevertheless, challenges remain. A few elements in the scheme are lacking and would need to be created, and some additional integration and coordination among existing elements would reduce risk. In light of this framework, in this chapter we discuss the gaps in the realization of the framework and areas where current integration and coordination is problematic.

Given the proposed framework in Figure 1.4, we note that, for nearly every...