Yahoo.com: US says it has 5,113 nuclear warheads

[Obibyn23]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100504/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_nuclear_weapons

WASHINGTON – The United States has 5,113 nuclear warheads in its stockpile and "several thousand" more retired warheads awaiting the junkpile, the Pentagon said Monday in an unprecedented accounting of a secretive arsenal born in the Cold War and now shrinking rapidly.

The Obama administration disclosed the size of its atomic stockpile going back to 1962 as part of a campaign to get other nuclear nations to be more forthcoming, and to improve its bargaining position against the prospect of a nuclear Iran.

"We think it is in our national security interest to be as transparent as we can be about the nuclear program of the United States," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters at the United Nations, where she addressed a conference on containing the spread of atomic weapons.

The U.S. has previously regarded such details as top secret.

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HOLY ****

[thebluefood]

So is it safe to say "don't **** with us?"

[Obibyn23]

So is it safe to say "don't **** with us?"

Not as much as we could have in 1989

The Pentagon said the stockpile of 5,113 as of September 2009 represents a 75 percent reduction since 1989.

[greenspandan]

seems like we could have done without one or two of them to, i don't know, double the salary of every public school teacher in america, for example. or, say, develop some public transportation that isn't a complete joke.

[Commander PK]

Ridiculous. I'm all about National Defense, but how many Nukes do we really need? What would be the point of winning a war if there is nothing left. It took just two to end World War II.

[Commander PK]

seems like we could have done without one or two of them to, i don't know, double the salary of every public school teacher in america, for example. or, say, develop some public transportation that isn't a complete joke.

This makes too much sense

[jnhay]

Ridiculous. I'm all about National Defense, but how many Nukes do we really need? What would be the point of winning a war if there is nothing left. It took just two to end World War II.

It seems to me that there could be a bunch of different sizes. Maybe we have a lot of tiny ones for some reason?

[Veretax]

seems like we could have done without one or two of them to, i don't know, double the salary of every public school teacher in america, for example. or, say, develop some public transportation that isn't a complete joke.

That is all well and good, but most teachers are paid by the states, not the feds. I'm not aware of how any federal funding actually goes toward teacher salaries so much.

[MrSilverMaC]

It seems to me that there could be a bunch of different sizes. Maybe we have a lot of tiny ones for some reason?

This is what I was thinking. I am sure it isn't 5k cruise or icbm type warheads. A lot of them are probably the smaller tactical warheads used for single battles as opposed to taking out large populations.

[IONTOP]

It seems to me that there could be a bunch of different sizes. Maybe we have a lot of tiny ones for some reason?

And to the TOOC we go...

[aREDSKIN]

seems like we could have done without one or two of them to, i don't know, double the salary of every public school teacher in america, for example. or, say, develop some public transportation that isn't a complete joke.

LOL. Double the salaries of teachers? Do you know how much they make already for the level of worked required of them?? The quality of education the children of public education receive isn't worth what the "teachers" are already getting let alone doubling it. Pass on that feel good altruism. We have principals of elementary & middle schoolers here in Jacksonville, FL making 100K in salary plus benefits working 182 days of the year. The assistant principals make 75% of that. The teachers are compensated well enough for WHAT THEY DO. Whcih IMO isn't nearly enough.

[kubstix]

seems like we could have done without one or two of them to, i don't know, double the salary of every public school teacher in america, for example. or, say, develop some public transportation that isn't a complete joke.

I work at a high school. What a complete joke how much the teachers make to do almost next to nothing for a half year. I also come to find out you can never ask a teacher to do anymore than 'they already do' however much that is. I'm an IT guy at the school, now that EVERYTHING they do including grading is on a computer, there life cannot be any easier. Give the IT guys double salary for making everyone elses job much more productive and easier with new software/hardware.

[Thiebear]

That turned into a nuke a teacher rather quickly.

[mistertim]

It seems to me that there could be a bunch of different sizes. Maybe we have a lot of tiny ones for some reason?

During the Cold War the US and the Soviet Union had somewhat different approaches to their nuclear weapons arsenal. The Soviets favored higher yield warheads which could take out large areas but were not as precise or accurate. The US tended to favor smaller yield warheads that were more accurate. Both used MIRVs which could carry multiple warheads. The Soviets had the advantage in ICBMs which could more easily be outfitted with MIRVs so the US had many more SLBMs than the Soviets to try and counter that.

There are tons of different types, especially when you factor in tactical bunker busters, etc. There are even small nukes that can be fired via mortar (not sure whether those are still produced or banned or not). But a lot of the most devastating weapons (usually MIRV ICBMs with high yields) were banned via various nuclear treaties.

[RichmondRedskin88]

[gbear]

I remember reading during the cold war, I think during one of the talks btw Reagan and Gorbachev, that both countries each had enough nukes to blow up the entire world more than a 100 times. I remember turning to my dad and asking "Why do we need to blow up everything more than once? Isn't that like totaling the car more than once?"

[dfitzo53]

I remember reading during the cold war, I think during one of the talks btw Reagan and Gorbachev, that both countries each had enough nukes to blow up the entire world more than a 100 times. I remember turning to my dad and asking "Why do we need to blow up everything more than once? Isn't that like totaling the car more than once?"

If Russia could blow the world up more times than we could, they would win.

[JimboDaMan]

I remember reading during the cold war, I think during one of the talks btw Reagan and Gorbachev, that both countries each had enough nukes to blow up the entire world more than a 100 times. I remember turning to my dad and asking "Why do we need to blow up everything more than once? Isn't that like totaling the car more than once?"

Because it was an arms "race". Somewhere along the way it became more important to win the race than decide we had enough nukes to achieve our goals.

I do think that total includes smaller weapons than just the armegeddon big boys. But if we could once have blown up the entire world 100 times and we've had a 75% reduction, now we can only blow up the world 25 times. Clearly we've been weakened as a nation.

This has got the goobers at Free Republic into an absolute panty-wadding hissy fit. Surey Obama is an enemy of freedom by disclosing crucial secrets like this. Apart from the fact that this is a who-cares "secret", the people crying "treason" and "impeach" over this are the same ones that argued GWB could disclose the identity of covert CIA agents because the President can unilaterally declassify anything he pleases.

[Rocky21]

seems like we could have done without one or two of them to, i don't know, double the salary of every public school teacher in america, for example. or, say, develop some public transportation that isn't a complete joke.

Thanks for making this point and ignore the strawmen.

[Titaw]

Think about it this way. The US has 95% of ALL nukes in the entire world.

[Kosher Ham]

Think about it this way. The US has 95% of ALL nukes in the entire world.

That they know of, or are reported. For all we know China has 3000 Nukes.

[Teller]

When we were promised government transparency, this isn't quite what I expected.

[zoony]

LOL. Double the salaries of teachers? Do you know how much they make already for the level of worked required of them?? The quality of education the children of public education receive isn't worth what the "teachers" are already getting let alone doubling it. Pass on that feel good altruism. We have principals of elementary & middle schoolers here in Jacksonville, FL making 100K in salary plus benefits working 182 days of the year. The assistant principals make 75% of that. The teachers are compensated well enough for WHAT THEY DO. Whcih IMO isn't nearly enough.

I agree that many administrators are overpaid- and I think school systems as a rule are top-heavy. IMO one of the biggest problems with schools.

That said, your idea that teachers are overpaid for what they do is a joke.

.....

[Skins24]

Think about it this way. The US has 95% of ALL nukes in the entire world.

How is that possible?

I've seen nothing to indicate Russia has less....

*Breaks out his calculator*

[skinnyfan57]

Nuke the whales.