Pentagon Reverts to Nuclear Stockpile Secrecy

Categories: Secrecy

In May 2010, the Department of Defense disclosed that the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal consisted of 5,113 warheads (as of September 30, 2009).
This was a disclosure of great significance, the Pentagon explained:  “Increasing the transparency of global nuclear stockpiles is important to non-proliferation efforts, and to pursuing follow-on reductions after the ratification and entry into force of the New START Treaty,” the Department of Defense said then.
The disclosure was also an unprecedented breakthrough in secrecy reform.  Never before had the U.S. government revealed the current size of its nuclear arsenal.  The Obama Administration’s promise to be “the most transparent Administration ever” is often viewed ironically in view of the perceived prevalence of overclassification. But when it comes to nuclear stockpile secrecy (and at least a few other important topics), that promise was fulfilled quite literally.
For all of those reasons, it was dispiriting to learn that the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal today is once again classified.

http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2013/07/pentagon-reverts/