Does Congress Know How Many Nuclear Weapons the US Has?
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Photodisc/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — As it turns out, some members of Congress don’t know how many nuclear weapons the United States has.
Nukes are back in the news this week after President Obama renewed his call to significantly cut the U.S. arsenal, telling a crowd in Berlin Wednesday that he wants to reduce deployed U.S. and Russian nukes by one-third.
Global Zero, a group that promotes eliminating all nuclear weapons, asked a few lawmakers how many nukes are in the U.S. stockpile. Some said they didn’t know; others gave inaccurate numbers.
What does Congress know about nukes? from Global Zero on Vimeo.
(From Global Zero on Vimeo)
The above video includes interviews with Republican Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri; Phil Gingrey of Georgia; Morgan Griffith of Virginia; Steve Womack of Arkansas; Rob Wittman of Virginia; Tom McClintock of California; Duncan Hunter of California; Mark Amodei of Nevada; Bill Flores of Texas; Democratic Reps. Donald Payne Jr. of New Jersey and John Garamendi of California; and New Progressive Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi.
Global Zero says the United States has 7,700 nuclear warheads, citing a Federation of American Scientists report. The Department of Defense disclosed in 2012 that “as of September 30, 2009, the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons consisted of 5,113 warheads.”
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