Pentagon chief is expert on nukes but says little about them

WASHINGTON (AP) — As defense secretary to a president who famously envisioned "a world without nuclear weapons," Ash Carter has said remarkably little about them.

Nor has he publicly explained in detail the utility of nuclear weapons in an age of attacks by non-state actors like the Islamic State to build support for spending hundreds of billions on a new generation of them.

There he plans to deliver a speech on nuclear deterrence, the notion that a robust and ready U.S. nuclear force will make clear that the cost of hitting the U.S. would outweigh any benefit.

Minot is home to Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles that stand in underground silos, ready for nuclear war.

Carter also has chosen to focus on what he calls the "force of the future" — a set of policy initiatives meant to modernize the way the defense establishment recruits and develops members of the armed services.

"Secretary Carter has not said much on nuclear weapons, but his actions speak volumes," says Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, an advocacy group that argues for nuclear reductions and against the administration's plan to commit hundreds of billions to build a next-generation nuclear arsenal.

Among Carter's most substantial remarks about nuclear weapons was his response earlier this month to a question from a student at the University of Oxford in England after Carter spoke about the American defense relationship with Britain.