The United States possesses a substantial nuclear weapons arsenal and associated delivery systems. The 2001 Nuclear Posture Review suggests that the United States may seek to develop, and possibly test, new types of nuclear weapons in the future. The United States destroyed its biological weapons by 1970 and is in the process of destroying its stockpile of chemical weapons.
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The United States used nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, making it the only country that has ever used nuclear weapons during a conflict. At its peak, in 1966, the U.S. arsenal contained 32,193 nuclear warheads/bombs.[1] As of January 2008, the arsenal consisted of an estimated 5,400 nuclear warheads, of which approximately 4,075 are operational.[2] Thousands more await dismantlement. According to the May 2002 Treaty of Moscow (the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty, or SORT) between the United States and the Russian Federation, both countries are required to reduce their strategic nuclear arsenals to 1,700-2,200 operationally deployed warheads by 2012.
The United States deploys nuclear weapons in five European NATO countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey. U.S. nuclear weapons were likely removed from the Ramstein Air Base in Germany in July 2007 and from the Lakenheath Air Base in the United Kingdom in June 2008. The United States is one of the five recognized nuclear weapon states under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In October 1999, the U.S. Senate voted not to give its advice and consent to ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The current Bush Administration's position on the CTBT is that while it has no plans to seek reconsideration of the Senate's refusal to consent to ratification, the United States intends to maintain its moratorium on nuclear testing in place since 1992. The United States is a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
The United States resumed small-scale warhead production at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2007. The Bush Administration's plan for large-scale warhead production and refurbishment of the nuclear weapons production complex stalled when Congress denied funding for the program in 2007.[2]
The U.S. offensive biological warfare (BW) program was launched in 1943 and terminated in 1969, by executive order. During this period, the United States weaponized a variety of pathogens and toxins for use against humans and plants. The anti-human agents it developed for weapons purposes were Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Francisella tularensis (tularemia), Coxiella burnetii (Q fever), the Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, and staphylococcal enterotoxin B. The anti-plant agents were the fungi that cause wheat rust and rice blast. In addition, U.S. military scientists conducted research on pathogens that cause smallpox, glanders, and plague, as well as several toxins, such as botulinum toxin, saxitoxin, and ricin. The entire U.S. BW stockpile was destroyed in 1969 and 1970; since that time, it has not had an offensive BW program. The U.S. ratified the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC) in March 1975 and had an important role in the process of developing confidence-building measures (CBMs) during several BWC review conferences.
The U.S. chemical warfare (CW) program began with the establishment of the Chemical Warfare Service in June 1918. During World War I, the United States manufactured, stockpiled, and used chemical weapons. Chemical weapons development and production continued during and after World War II, but the production of unitary chemical munitions was terminated in 1969. During the Reagan administration, the production of binary chemical weapons was restarted, but was discontinued in 1990. The United States ratified the Geneva Protocol in 1975, with the reservation that the treaty not apply to defoliants and riot control agents such as were used in Vietnam and Laos during the Vietnam War. Currently, the United States has what is believed to be the world's second largest stockpile of chemical weapons, including bombs, rockets, and artillery shells that are loaded with lewisite, mustard, sarin, soman, VX, or binary nerve agents. According to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as of June 2008, the United States had destroyed over 50% of its original stockpile. Under terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which the United States ratified in April 1997, the United States committed to destroying all chemical stockpiles by April 2007. However in April 2006, Washington requested an extension to April 2012, the final deadline set by the CWC, citing delays in initiating operations and lower-than-planned destruction rates at chemical weapons destruction facilities. According to U.S. Department of Defense estimates, the United States will not be able to complete destruction of its chemical weapons arsenal until 2023.
The United States has the capability to produce highly sophisticated liquid- and solid-fueled ballistic missiles of a variety of ranges, as well as cruise missiles. As of January 2008, 500 Minuteman nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) were deployed at bases in Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming. The U.S. Air Force planned to reduce the ICBM force from 500 to 450 by mid-2008. The U.S. Navy's 14 operational Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) carry Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM). The U.S. bomber force consists of B-52 bombers that can deliver air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM), advanced cruise missiles (ACM), or gravity bombs. The force's B-2 bombers carry only gravity bombs.[2] Pursuant to the restrictions of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), the United States does not possess ballistic or cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
The United States is a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), whose goal is to restrict the proliferation of unmanned delivery systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
Key Sources:
[1] Nuclear Weapons Databook Project, Natural Resources Defense Council.
[2] Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen, "U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2008," Nuclear Notebook, Natural Resources Defense Council, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, March/April 2008. pp. 50-53 (vol. 64, no. 1) http://thebulletin.metapress.com.
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Updated August 2008 |
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