President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday called for the United States to expand its nuclear arsenal, which would be a radical shift in U.S. policy dating back decades.
In a tweet that offered no details, Trump said, “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”
Trump’s suggestion would reverse a long-standing policy under both Republican and Democratic presidents to reduce the number and the role of nuclear weapons, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. Russia and before it, the Soviet Union, hold a similar policy.
Since President George H.W. Bush’s administration, it has been U.S. policy not to build new nuclear warheads. Under President Barack Obama, the policy has been not to pursue warheads with new military capabilities.
It has been estimated that modernizing the aging nuclear arsenal will cost $1 trillion over 20 years. Currently, the United States has just under 5,000 warheads in its active arsenal, and more than 1,550 deployed strategic warheads.
“If Donald Trump is concerned about the rising costs of the F-35, he will be shocked by the skyrocketing costs of the current plan to modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal,” Kimball said. “Trump and his people need to explain the basis of his cryptic tweet. What does he mean by expand, and at what cost?”
Special to The Washington Post ยท Karen Turner
