The United States might move ahead with more confidence to reduce the number of nuclear warheads in its arsenal if the nation had a robust operational missile defense system in place, an analyst said.

Members of a commission that studied arms reduction discussed the issue.

"There are some [on the commission] that felt this is a valuable tool that the president has," and some allies seem to like this capability as well, said Thomas Schieber, vice president of the National Institute for Public Policy.

He spoke at a forum of the U.S. Institute for Peace [USIP], responding to a question from Space & Missile Defense Report.

In performing a calculus of how missile defense systems in place could affect arms reduction favorably, "having [missile] defenses could allow you to cut back on certain types of nuclear weapons," Scheiber said.

Missile "defenses allow the president a little more time, a little more leeway in some situations," he added. Before missile defense systems became operational, a U.S. president confronted with incoming enemy ICBMs, especially nuclear-tipped weapons, had but one response: an overwhelming retaliatory salvo with enormous numbers of U.S. ICBMs raining down on the aggressor nation.

But with a robust missile defense system, a president could feel he had another option at hand, other than a gigantic retaliatory strike, Scheiber said.

Others on the USIP forum said reducing the number of U.S. nuclear arms to zero would be difficult, cautioning that the United States and Russia are one matter, while China, North Korea, Iran and other nations are another matter entirely.

Regardless, the United States shouldn’t unilaterally abolish its nuclear arsenal, but should act only in concert with the Russians, panel members said.

To obtain the audio of the USIP event titled "America’s Strategic Posture: Reducing Nuclear Dangers" please go to http://www.usip.org/events/events2009.html on the Web.

Their comments came as President Obama is proposing to cut funding for several ballistic missile defense programs by a total $1.2 billion to $7.8 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2009. Congress now is reviewing his plan.