WASHINGTON (AP) – In contrast to the policy of the administration of former President Donald Trump, the State Department revealed the number of nuclear weapons in its arsenal on Tuesday.
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He noted that this will help global efforts to control the circulation of such weapons.
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The number of US weapons, both those in active state and those in storage, was 3,750 in September 2020, the federal agency reported. This figure is lower than the 3,805 registered a year earlier and the 3,785 in 2018.
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As recently as 2003, the United States had a total of 10,000 nuclear weapons. It reached its highest number in 1967 at 31,255.
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The last time the US government released the number of weapons in its arsenal was in March 2018, when the total was 3,822 in September 2017. That was early in the Trump administration, which it subsequently kept secret. the updated figures and rejected a request from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) to declassify the totals.
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“Let’s get back to transparency,” said Hans Kristensen, director of the FAS Nuclear Information Project. He assured that the government of President Joe Biden did well to reverse the policy of his predecessor.
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In addition, Kristensen noted that revealing the arsenal will help US diplomats in arms control negotiations and at next year’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference, which will review the disarmament commitment made by nuclear powers that they have signed the treaty, including the United States.
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The Biden administration is conducting a nuclear weapons policy and posture review that is expected to be completed early next year.
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At last February’s Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “President Biden has made it clear: America has a national security imperative and a moral responsibility to reduce and over time eliminate, the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction. “
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