Potential threats make it necessary for the United States to maintain a nuclear arsenal for many years to come, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday, and called for steps to ensure the nation has the ability to build such complex weapons.

Gates, in a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, embraced former President Bill Clinton’s “lead and hedge” nuclear approach. Under this approach, Gates said, the United States should take the lead in seeking to eliminate such weapons while also hedging its bets by maintaining a deterrent nuclear arsenal.

He pointed to the nuclear programs and ambitions of nations like North Korea, Iran, Russia and China as reasons Washington must take steps to ensure the nation’s existing nuclear force is ready for launch, and also make sure industry and government have the technical expertise to build new versions.

He urged Congress to alter its recent practice of stripping money in annual Pentagon budget requests for the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program, which he said would “reinvigorate and rebuild our infrastructure and expertise.”

Many skeptics argue pursuing a new program would hurt Washington’s ability to keep other nations from getting “the bomb.” They say because of this, and because the nation’s existing arsenal can be maintained for 50 to 100 years, the RRW program should be delayed for some time. Still other critics simply oppose all nuclear weapons.

But yet Washington is pushing nuclear programs for Egypt, India, and others.  Yes, they are nuke power programs, but as with Iran, how long would it be before the bomb is to follow?