nuclear-news

Joint Staffs General Calls for Cut in Nuclear Reserve

06 Aug 2012   By Greg McDonald Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz has called for  the nation’s reserve of nuclear weapons to be reduced, citing its size and expense to maintain.

Schwartz became the first sitting member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to  suggest publiclythat the so-called “active reserve,” or backup supply of U.S. nuclear weapons should be cut back, the Boston Globe reported Monday.

“We have more backup systems in terms of weapons systems than we
actually have deployed,” Schwartz said in an interview with the Globe.
“Some of that is a reasonable hedge [but] there is probably room for
reductions.”

The Globe said Schwartz’s call for cuts in the reserve to be
considered is  supported by a report earlier this year from retired
Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, whom the Globe said had been in
charge of all U.S. nuclear weapons.

According to the newspaper, the Cartwright report “recommended that
the United States during the next 10 year years reduce its nuclear
force to a total of 900 weapons, half of them on alert and half in
reserve.”… The reserves are a legacy of the Cold War nuclear
standoff between the United States and the former Soviet Union. …
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Schwartz-nukes-cut-general/2012/08/06/id/447660

August 8, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war