This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

For nearly three decades, the United States has relied on its strategic nuclear arsenal as the ultimate guarantor of our national security without conducting a single underground nuclear test to ensure that our weapons are safe, reliable and effective deterrents.

Absent such testing, it’s impossible to perform the sort of routine modernization needed to deter foreign adversaries. As a result, our arsenal today is filled with obsolescent nuclear arms – and some U.S. government scientists fear they might not work as intended. If our enemies reach the same conclusion, they may be emboldened to act aggressively against us, our allies and/or our interests.

What’s more, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency just confirmed that Russia has been using low-yield underground nuclear tests to completely modernize its nuclear forces.  China probably has, too.  It’s past time that we do the same.

This is Frank Gaffney.