The Obama Administration on Monday took the unprecedented step of disclosing the number of nuclear weapons in the nation’s stockpile—5,113 warheads, as of Sept. 30, 2009—in a move that aims to encourage greater transparency among the world’s nuclear powers and spawn strengthened nuclear nonproliferation efforts. “For those who doubt that the United States will do its part on disarmament, this is our record, these are our commitments,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told UN participants of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference in New York. The size of the US nuclear arsenal today is 75 percent less than when the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989, when the US possessed 22,217 warheads, according to the data released. It is 84 percent smaller compared to 1967 when the arsenal was its largest, with 31,255 warheads. (AFPS report by Donna Miles) (Pentagon briefing transcript) (DOD fact sheet)
The U.S. continued to move a significant amount of airpower toward the Middle East in recent days as talks to forge a nuclear deal with Iran hung in the balance. Flight tracking data indicate there was unusually heavy movement of dozens of fighter jets and other assets that might be…
