The Biden administration on Tuesday revealed it has more than 3,000 nuclear warheads as it released numbers for the first time since forme...
The Biden administration on Tuesday revealed it has more than 3,000 nuclear warheads as it released numbers for the first time since former President Trump stopped publishing numbers.
Releasing the information was essential for disarmament efforts, said officials, as the State Department revealed that the arsenal held 3,750 warheads.
It comes as the Biden administration pursues an arms control deal with Russia but as tensions soar in the South China Sea as Beijing adopts an increasingly aggressive posture against Taiwan.
The size of the U.S. stockpile is down from the 3,805 a year earlier and 3,785 in 2018, according to the data.
The total was more than 10,000 in 2003 but peaked at more than 31,000 in 1967.
'Increasing the transparency of states’ nuclear stockpiles is important to nonproliferation and disarmament efforts, including commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and efforts to address all types of nuclear weapons, including deployed and nondeployed, and strategic and non-strategic,' said the National Nuclear Security Administration, part of the Department of Energy which is responsible for maintaining the safety of the stockpile.
In addition, it said, the U.S. has another 2,000 'retired' warheads awaiting dismantlement.
The Biden administration ended the Trump-era secrecy over nuclear warhead numbers, saying the U.S. had about 3,750 - a small decrease over the past two years
A chart published by the National Nuclear Security Administration shows how the number of warheads has declined since the Cold War, but is holding steady at a little under 4,000
'We commend the Biden administration for reversing the Trump administration’s shortsighted and counterproductive nuclear secrecy and restore transparency to the US nuclear weapons stockpile,' said the Federation of American Scientists
The last time the U.S. government released its numbers was in March 2018.
The Trump administration subsequently kept the data secret and denied a request by the Federation of American Scientists to declassify them.
The denial triggered accusations of hypocrisy as the U.S. condemned China's secretive buildup of weapons.
'As the first nuclear weapons state, the United States should strive to set a global example for clarity and transparency in nuclear weapons policy by disclosing its current stockpile size,' said the Federation of American Scientists at the time.
'Ambiguity is not helpful to anyone in this context.'
The group welcomed the Biden administration's new transparency.
'We commend the Biden administration for reversing the Trump administration’s shortsighted and counterproductive nuclear secrecy and restore transparency to the US nuclear weapons stockpile,' it said.
'This decision is a heavy lifting at a time when so-called Great Power Competition is overtaking defense and arms control analysis.'
The numbers were released at a time when President Joe Biden's administration has resumed arms controls talks with Russia that stalled under Trump.
'Increasing the transparency of states' nuclear stockpiles is important to nonproliferation and disarmament efforts,' said the State Department.
Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal and an arms control treaty with Russia.
The New Start Treaty was also left in limbo ahead of its February expiration date.
It limits the number of warheads held by Washington and Moscow, but Trump said it was meaningless without including China.
Biden, who came in to office on January 20, immediately proposed a five-year extension to New Start, which Russian President Vladimir Putin quickly agreed to.
The deal caps at 1,550 the number of nuclear warheads that can be deployed by Moscow and Washington.
Last week Russian and US diplomats held talks behind closed doors in Geneva to begin discussions on a successor to New Start and also controls on conventional weapons.
A US official called the talks "productive," but both sides said the mere fact of holding the talks was positive.
According to a January 2021 tally by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which includes retired warheads -- not counted in the State Department's numbers -- the United States had 5,550 warheads, compared to 6,255 in Russia, 350 in China, 225 in Britain, and 290 in France.
India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have together around 460 nuclear warheads, according to the institute.
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