..reliability of aging US nuclear arsenal is drawing increased debate

[Nambe]

Source: By ROBERT BURNS | AP Military Writer

The mighty U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons, midwived by World War II and nurtured by the Cold War, is declining in power and purpose while the military's competence in handling the world's most dangerous arms has eroded. At the same time, international efforts to contain the spread of such weapons look ineffective.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, for one, wants the next president to think about what nuclear middle-age and decline means for national security.

Gates joins a growing debate about the reliability and future credibility of the American arsenal with his first extensive speech on nuclear arms Tuesday. The debate is attracting increasing attention inside the Pentagon even as the military is preoccupied with fighting insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. The unconventional tools of war there include covert commandos, but not nuclear weapons. ...

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-bc-nucleardecline1stld-writethru,0,5441249.story

[Eric J in MN]

1. The point of our nuclear arms agreements with the Soviet Union...

...was for both countries to let our nuclear arsenals age so that we'd be less likely to blow up the world.

This isn't a crisis. This was planned for the sake of killing less people.


Furthermore, is President Obama going to tell Iran, you can't have one nuclear missile, as the US manufactures hundreds of nuclear missiles?

[RC]

2. Yeah, like we need nuclear weapons for

blowing up people on horse back, carrying single shot WW1 rifles, on thier way to wedding parties.

[Mari333]

3. hmm I was nurtured also during the cold war

and if the nuclear arsenal is ageing as fast as I am, it is time to dismantle it. I, however, will age more gracefully before I am dismantled.
What a legacy, to grow up being nurtured alongside nuclear weaponry. That is why I call baby boomers 'atomic age babies'.

[Pavulon]

4. The W class

weapon is state of the art. New delivery systems are compatible with this weapon.

If there was a reason to begin modernizing we have designs that are already capable of filling that void.

The arsenal is quite capable of doing its job if maintained.

That job is a second strike system.

[cosmicone]

5. This is a planned and shrewd tactic by rethugs

to bring the fear back into the election especially when the white independents are swayed by national security issues on which they see McLame as a stronger candidate.

There was no reason for Robert Gates to bring this up NOW .... it could have waited until after the election ... but he is winking