It is on the basis of unconvincing justifications that the Obama Administration on May 3rd de-classified and released to the public a comprehensive listing of the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile. The newly released data covers the period from fiscal 1962 through 2009 and shows that as of the end of fiscal year 2009 the U.S. had 5,113 nuclear weapons in its stockpile. The Administration is providing two justifications. The first is that the release is important to pursuing non-proliferation goals. The second is that it will …
Secretary Clinton indicated in a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace on Wednesday that the Administration’s efforts have been increasingly directed toward an arms control and non-proliferation agenda. The Administration is hastily pursuing the ratification of a START follow-on treaty with Russia and, in addition, Secretary Clinton announced on Wednesday that the U.S. will reaffirm the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and commit to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and negotiate a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). Clinton criticized the view held …
