US mulls steep nuclear arsenal cuts
February 15th, 2012 - 6:54 pm ICT by IANS
Moscow, Feb 15 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The White House and Pentagon are considering several proposals that would significantly reduce the nation’s nuclear arsenal, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The US nuclear stockpile might be trimmed to as low as 300 warheads under one such proposal, an unnamed US official told the newspaper.
Other proposals would see the US arsenal cut to between 1,100 and 1,000, and between 800 and 700, the official said.
The US currently has 1,790 warheads.
The cut would not be unilateral but could be negotiated with Russia in future arms reduction talks.
Under the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which came into effect in February last year, the US and Russia must reduce their nuclear arsenals to 1,550 warheads.
The new proposals, confirmed by the Pentagon Tuesday, have not been presented to President Barack Obama yet.
The prospect of new nuclear cuts is certain to become a hotly debated issue during the presidential campaign, the Wall Street Journal said. New START was opposed by many Republicans in the US Senate and was also criticised by leading presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
Last month, Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta unveiled a revamped national military strategy which hinted at possible steep reductions in the US strategic arsenal.
The document, presented at the Pentagon, said: “It is possible that our deterrence goals can be achieved with a smaller nuclear force.”
However, the Pentagon’s 2013 spending plan, presented Monday, did not propose any nuclear cuts.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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Tags: barack obama, defense secretary, deterrence, leon panetta, mitt romney, national military strategy, newt gingrich, nuclear arsenal, nuclear arsenals, nuclear cuts, nuclear force, nuclear stockpile, pentagon, presidential campaign, presidential contenders, ria novosti, us senate, wall street journal, warheads, which came into effect