U.S. panel warns Pentagon on nuclear deterrence

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear deterrent that kept a tense peace during the Cold War is in danger of losing credibility among allied nations that look to the United States for security, a Pentagon panel said on Thursday.

A task force, assigned by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to evaluate the U.S. nuclear mission, said many senior military and defense officials fail to understand the value of deterrence policy -- seen by experts as vital to avoiding a nuclear war.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, a report by the task force said, an inattentive Pentagon has allowed its nuclear mission to become fragmented and subject to lower-level authority, resulting in a dramatically reduced staff that lacks both depth and breadth in nuclear expertise.

Problems with the U.S. nuclear mission came to light last year with revelations that a B-52 bomber flew nuclear weapons across the continental United States by accident and that fuses for nuclear weapons had been mistakenly shipped to Taiwan.

U.S. officials have also voiced concerns about readiness, saying no American nuclear weapons have been tested since 1992. The United States plans to cut its nuclear stockpile to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads by next year under an agreement with Russia.

Former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, the task force's chief, warned of a new wave of nuclear proliferation if nations in Europe and Asia that rely on the U.S. nuclear umbrella were prompted to start their own arms programs because of flagging confidence in the United States.

More than 30 countries are protected by the ability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal to deter and dissuade attack, he said.

"Five or six of those nations are quite capable of beginning to produce nuclear weapons on their own and the consequence is to add to proliferation," Schlesinger said.

"Others must see that the forces we have are quite capable of carrying out their responsibilities."

CHANGES RECOMMENDED

The task force recommended a series of changes, including tighter oversight of nuclear management through the appointment of a new assistant secretary of defense for deterrence.

Gates, who fired the Air Force's top military and civilian officers over last year's mix-ups, issued a statement on Thursday declaring the U.S. nuclear deterrent "safe, secure and reliable."

Schlesinger said he believes the gravest danger to U.S. credibility had passed but urged the White House to lead a campaign to reestablish the stature of nuclear deterrence in U.S. policy.

The comments came as Barack Obama, a Democrat, prepares to take over as U.S. president from George W. Bush, a Republican, on January 20.

Schlesinger said the decline of the nuclear mission's priority was partly due to an emphasis on conventional forces that intensified with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's initiative to transform the U.S. armed services.

"There was a view that the nuclear mission was sizable, that in itself it could take care of itself," Schlesinger said. "It's always an error to assume that the esprit of military units will be sustained because they have been high esprit units in the past."

Thursday's report concluded the second phase of the Schlesinger task force's duties. The first phase ended in October with a report that criticized the Air Force for its handling of the nuclear mission.

(Editing by John O'Callaghan)