Trump Wants to Expand US Nuclear Capabilities
By VOA News December 22, 2016
Donald Trump's team is trying to clarify what could be seen as an alarming statement from the president-elect on bolstering the United States' nuclear capabilities.
Trump tweeted Thursday that "The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capabilities until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes."
Trump gave no context or details of what he meant.
But Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller says Trump was talking about the need to keep nuclear weapons away from terrorists and dangerous world leaders.
"President-elect Trump was referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation and the critical need to prevent it, particularly to and among terrorist organizations and unstable rogue regimes," Miller said.
Trump issued his tweet about the same time Russian President Vladimir Putin told his defense team Russia needs to "strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces," including "missile complexes that can reliably penetrate any existing and prospective missile defense systems."
Russia has said a U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe is a threat, while the U.S. says it is aimed at countering a possible missile launch from Iran.
U.S. arms control experts say the U.S. and Russia possess roughly the same number of weapons in their nuclear arsenals – more than 7,000 each.
Trump said during the campaign that modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal is necessary "to ensure it continues to be an effective deterrent."
But if he decides to expand it, it would be a sharp reversal of more than 50 years of U.S. policy which has focused on cutting its nuclear stockpile.
The U.S. and Russia signed a major weapons deal in 2010 limiting the number of nuclear warheads and missile launchers each side can have.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
