The United States currently possesses 5,113 nuclear warheads in its stockpile and "several thousand" more retired warheads awaiting the junk pile, the Pentagon announced this week in an unprecedented accounting of its until now top secret nuclear arsenal born in the Cold War and now rapidly shrinking.
The Obama administration disclosed the size of its atomic stockpile going back to 1962 as part of a campaign to get other nuclear nations – including Israel – to be more forthcoming. Speaking to reporters at the United Nations, where she had addressed a conference on containing the spread of atomic weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "We think it is in our national security interest to be as transparent as we can be about the nuclear program of the United States."
The Obama administration disclosed the size of its atomic stockpile going back to 1962 as part of a campaign to get other nuclear nations – including Israel – to be more forthcoming. Speaking to reporters at the United Nations, where she had addressed a conference on containing the spread of atomic weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "We think it is in our national security interest to be as transparent as we can be about the nuclear program of the United States."