Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered sweeping changes in the management of the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters, Hagel said the Defense Department will increase spending on the nuclear forces by about 10 percent a year for the next five years.

This amounts to an increase of nearly $10 billion.

This news comes after two reviews commissioned by Mr. Hagel in February; one conducted by senior Pentagon staff members and the other led by two retired officers.

Separately, the groups visited all operational nuclear bases, interviewing about 1,500 people, from commanders to contractors.

The reports varied but met upon certain damning aspects and concluded, as the New York Times put it, that there was a “culture of micromanagement and attention to the smallest detail” that flourished, “creating busywork while huge problems with equipment and readiness, most arising from the age of the systems, were ignored.”

“The internal and external reviews I ordered show that a consistent lack of investment and support for our nuclear forces over far too many years has left us with too little margin to cope with mounting stresses,” said Hagel, who further explained, as reported in the Washington Post, that the root cause of this depleted state of nuclear defense “has been a lack of sustained focus, attention, and resources, resulting in a pervasive sense that a career in the nuclear enterprise offers too few opportunities for growth and advancement.”

Acknowledging the years of neglect, Hagel vowed renewed accountability, adding that the good news “is there has been no nuclear exchange in the world.”

Mr. Hagel’s call for greater investment in the U.S. nuclear program comes just 10 days before the deadline to conclude nuclear negotiations with Iran, and will place the administration in the politically awkward position of demanding that the Iranians dismantle their nuclear infrastructure at the same time as the Defense Secretary is arguing for an overhaul and overall improvement of America's submarines, missile silos, and over 1,600 nuclear weapons.