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Nuclear warhead modernization needs funding increase, GAO finds

Defense News: WASHINGTON — The National Nuclear Security Administration is underestimating how much funding it needs to update and maintain America’s nuclear warheads, a government watchdog has concluded.

A new Government Accountability Office report on the NNSA, a quasi-independent branch of the Department of Energy that manages the nuclear stockpile, warns that the agency has five major modernization programs that will be underfunded in the coming years — which in turn could lead to program delays.

“This misalignment indicates that estimated budgets may not be sufficient to fully execute program plans and that NNSA may need to increase budget estimates for those programs in the future,” GAO investigators concluded.

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