U.S. anti-submarine warfare capabilities—facing cuts under Obama administration

Russian attack submarine sailed in Gulf of Mexico undetected for weeks, U.S. officials say.

It is only the second time since 2009 that a Russian attack submarine has patrolled so close to U.S. shores. U.S. anti-submarine warfare capabilities—forces are facing cuts under the Obama administration’s plan and they are inadequate now. The vessel was a nuclear-powered Akula-class attack submarine, one of Russia’s quietest submarines. “The Akula was built for one reason and one reason only: To kill U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines and their crews,” said a second U.S. official. “Sending a nuclear-propelled submarine into the Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean region is another manifestation of President Putin demonstrating that Russia is still a player on the world’s political-military stage,” said naval analyst and submarine warfare specialist Norman Polmar. The latest submarine incursion in the Gulf further highlights the failure of the Obama administration’s “reset” policy of conciliatory actions designed to develop closer ties with Moscow.