Obama offered to cut the US deployed strategic arsenal by a third in 2013, providing Russia did the same, but Vladimir Putin has shown little interest in disarmament. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
The Guardian: Obama to decide on cuts to US nuclear arsenal in October
Limited politically feasible options on table for president to cement a disarmer legacy, most far-reaching of which is a one-third cut to deployed strategic arsenal.
Barack Obama is expected to make a final decision next month on possible cuts to the US nuclear arsenal, in an attempt to consolidate his legacy as a disarmer before leaving office.
Options on the table include reducing the number of deployed strategic warheads, slimming down the reserve stockpile, cutting military stores of fissile material available for making new warheads, and putting off some modernisation plans, including the a controversial air force programme for developing an air-launched cruise missile.
The president is due to consult his principal national security officials in October on which, if any, of the options are still feasible in the time left before he leaves office.
Read more ....
Update: 3 Nuclear-Weapons Programs President Obama Should Kill (Will Saetren, National Interest)
WNU editor: After reading this Guardian post I have to wonder if President Obama is doing this to "puff-up" his legacy as a nuclear disarmer that would justify his Nobel Prize .... or that there are serious national security considerations at play and implementing these cuts would not impact national security. Sighhh .... the lack of transparency on this issue .... and the rush to do something right now .... tells me that this is more about legacy than anything else.
Update: I should also add that any decision that he does make in October could be (and probably will be) overruled by the next administration.
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