Submitted Photo Task Force 21 Chair Mark Jantzer and Minot Area Chamber EDC President/CEO Brekka Kramer kick off the 2022 nuclear triad symposium with a welcome.

Task Force 21 of Minot and Peter Huessy of Geo-Strategic Analysis have brought together military, industry and government experts for an annual symposium on the nuclear triad for more than a decade.

The three legs of the nuclear triad are the Air Force’s nuclear capable heavy bombers (air leg), intercontinental ballistic missiles (ground leg) and the Navy’s ballistic missile submarines (sea leg).

Minot Air Force Base is the only dual wing nuclear-capable base in the Air Force. The 5th Bomb Wing has the B-52 bombers and the 91st Missile Wing has the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) it operates, maintains and secures in underground facilities in the Minot missile field. The Minot base is one of only two bases with B-52s. Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, also has B-52s.

Task Force 21 is a Minot Area Chamber EDC committee to educate the local community, North Dakota officials, members of Congress and the public on national security issues, particularly ones that affect Minot Air Force Base and the U.S. Air Force.

The majority of the nuclear triad symposiums have been held in Washington, D.C. A symposium held in earlier years was in Minot.

The most recent symposium, “Modernizing Nuclear Forces To Meet Emerging Threats” was held in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 23 at the Capitol Hill Club. The symposiums are held in partnership with Huessy, president of Geo-Strategic Analysis, a Potomac, Maryland-based defense and national security consulting business.

“Since we started this 11 years ago, a lot of things have changed,” said Mark Jantzer, chair of Task Force 21. “Number one is at that time there was still a decision to make about funding the modernization of these systems. We’re well beyond that now. All of the legs of the triad have modernization programs that are adequately funded for the most part and are programs of record. So we’re on that road.

“The other thing that’s changed over time is sort of the posturing of the threats in the world,” Jantzer said. “You can maybe remember days when, and it goes under the Obama administration, Russia wasn’t necessarily considered an adversary. There was sort of this kumbaya stuff going on. We don’t have that anymore. China has emerged as a pacing competitor with their breakout and increase of their own nuclear triad.”

He said the focus of the recent symposium was “basically the need to support the ongoing modernization, what that looks like, and then also is what we have adequate given the kinds of threats that we’re facing.”

He said a couple of the speakers talked about that the Minuteman III ICBMs used to have three warheads.

“We have deMIRVed (MIRV or multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles) down to where each missile only has one. Some people are questioning whether we should go back the other direction,” he said.

Jantzer said these are policy discussions that happen in think tanks, in the halls of Congress, happen in industry and then get talked about before the administration picks a direction.

“These matters are not trivial,” Jantzer said. “The United States has had a position of we’re a leadership and maintaining world order, and some of that looks like somebody else would like to take that over so we have to know if we’re positioned correctly or not.”

Jantzer said the symposiums on the nuclear triad are important for Minot and North Dakota.

“Because Minot AFB has two legs of the nuclear triad, we are probably more interested in and concerned about maintaining a strong nuclear deterrent. Some would say, ‘well, that’s just parochial. You’re just trying to protect your missions.’ And maybe part of that is true.

“On the other hand, I think as a community and as a state, we’re probably better positioned than most other places in the country to educate and to bring attention to what nuclear deterrence, what the triad is all about,” Jantzer said.

He said nuclear deterrence has influenced the last 70 or so years, during which a great-power world war with catastrophic losses of life has been something this country hasn’t had to deal with.

“So it’s a success story,” he said.

He said most citizens living their day-to-day lives don’t pay much attention to this necessarily or don’t think about it a lot, but there’s times when they should.

“So that’s the reason we have the symposiums is to hear from experts in this very important area and try to get that message out,” Jantzer said.

Those attending the symposium from Minot included: Mark Jantzer, Task Force 21 chair; Mayor Tom Ross, Jason Zimmerman, Jonn Knecht, Pete Hankla, Bruce I. Christianson and Jessica Merchant, Task Force 21 members; Brekka Kramer, Task Force 21 member and president, Minot Area Chamber EDC; L. John MacMartin, retired/community member; and Harold Stewart, City of Minot city manager.

The 20 speakers for the symposium included retired Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, former under secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration, first commander of Air Force Global Strike Command and a former commander of the 91st Missile Group (later redesignated 91st Missile Wing) at Minot AFB; Lt. Gen. James Dawkins Jr., deputy chief of staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, and a former commander of the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB; Maj. Gen. Michael Lutton, commander of Twentieth Air Force at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, and a former commander of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB; Brig. Gen. Stacy Jo Huser, principal assistant deputy administrator for Military Application, National Nuclear Security Administration with the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C., and a former commander of the 91st Missile Operations Group at Minot Air Force Base; and U.S. N.D. Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer.

Jantzer said plans are to have another symposium next year at a date and time to be determined.