Nukes: Fewer Missiles, More Muscle

[struggle4progress]

The United States is cutting its back-up supply of nuclear weapons while bolstering its ability to build new and better bombs if necessary, the Energy Department said Thursday.

"By 2012, the United States' nuclear stockpile will be the smallest it has been in several decades," National Nuclear Security Administration administrator Linton Brooks said in a letter to Congress presenting a classified report on the nation's nuclear arsenal.
<snip>

According to The New York Times, Brooks told a conference call with reporters the move would cut the stockpile "almost in half." A weapons expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Tom Cochran, told The Times that the total nuclear arsenal would drop from 10,000 weapons to 6,100 after the reductions announced Thursday.

Even as it has looked to cut the active nuclear arsenal, the Bush administration has also signaled it is interested in developing the capability to build newer, more advanced weapons.
<snip>

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/04/tech/main621121.shtml

[librechik]

1. Oh Christ. Why not just Fewer and fewer?

I can tell it's going to be a depressing week...