Dear Mr. President:
Your budget request makes deep cuts to vital nuclear security programs. These cuts increase the risk that terrorists could obtain materials to construct a crude nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb.
Your request for the National Nuclear Security Administration reduces funding for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative by 25% and International Materials Protection and Cooperation by 27%. It also slashes the Pentagon’s Cooperative Threat Reduction program by 27%.
We applaud your leadership on initiating the Nuclear Security Summit process. Still, as you said at the 2014 summit, significant work remains to be done.
Please work with Congress to ensure that these programs have resources to build a secure nuclear future where no American fears the threat of nuclear terrorism.