Biden adviser defends AUKUS submarine project, highlights problems

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Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Minnesota (SSN-783) is seen off the coast of Western Australia, Australia March 16, 2025. COLIN MURTY/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

WASHINGTON - An adviser to the Biden administration on the AUKUS project to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines warned on Monday against its cancellation amid a Pentagon review, but highlighted a wide range of problems that need to be resolved for it to succeed.

In a joint paper authored with a former State Department official, Abraham Denmark recognized the need for a thorough review of AUKUS by the Trump administration.

But he added: Should AUKUS fail or be scrapped, the United States would become less capable in the Indo-Pacific ... its international credibility would be dramatically undercut, deterrence would be undermined, and propaganda from Beijing and Moscow declaring the unreliability of American commitments would gain significant credibility.

The paper, written for Washingtons Center for the Strategic and International Studies think tank, listed well-known problems that need to be addressed, including lagging U.S. submarine production rates and the question of whether Australia would use submarines supplied by the U.S. in an Indo-Pacific conflict while depleting U.S. resources in acquiring them.

The report also highlighted the high costs of AUKUS - it is estimated it will cost Australia $240 billion (A$368 billion) over more than 30 years - a shortage of skilled labor for submarine production in all three countries, and other practical issues such as a lack of progress in ensuring AUKUS visas to facilitate movement for people involved in the project.