The Obama administration is proposing to slash the U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal to between 3,000 to 3,500 warheads from the current total of approximately 5,000 weapons, according to previously unreleased documents obtained by the Federation of American Scientists and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The cuts in both deployed and stored warheads would occur between 2011 and 2030.
At the same time, the administration's "FY 2011 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan" calls for spending around $175 billion over the same period to modernize the "complex" of national laboratories and other facilities - some dating back to World War II - that ensure that U.S. warheads remain safe and operate reliably in the absence of underground testing.
The plan, which was sent to Capital Hill in May, was drafted by the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Energy arm that oversees the U.S. nuclear stockpile, as part of the DOE's proposed 2011 budget.
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