Not trying to rewrite history at all.
The Davy Crockett was a complete system, and there were never that many warheads for the number of missiles. When deployed overseas, it was not uncommon for there to be zero warheads present (or in country, for that matter).
Understanding the design of a warhead is a far cry from actually building one. If you don’t believe me, go ask the North Koreans, and they supposedly had blueprints and everything.
Just trying to acquire the parts to construct one could draw the eye of the Feds.
When a weapon is decommissioned, it is not just shoved on a shelf in a back room, like iron bombs are. These are devices, and are quite intricate and complicated, even the relatively simple design of the Davey Crockett. The parts are meticulously destroyed and the pit is melted down or ground up, to be re-forged later, if needed.
Also, bear in mind that ALL nuclear weapons have FINITE shelf lives, and become unreliable without near constant TLC, something that even a PhD would have no clue how to do.
"Understanding the design of a warhead is a far cry from actually building one. If you don’t believe me, go ask the North Koreans, and they supposedly had blueprints and everything. Just trying to acquire the parts to construct one could draw the eye of the Feds." There is a group of highly trained, experienced, and skilled nuclear design and maintenance professionals. Many of them are now (and have been) looking to sell their skills for hard cash. And the "Feds" can't touch them, because they are Russian citizens. The US isn't the only holder of the nuclear genie in the world. Isreal, for one, put together a nuclear program with a fraction of the budget that the Islamic movement has access to. Pakistan and India seemed to quit eating curry long enough to figure out how to make one go boom. But, far and away , the easiest route is to just get a hold of several of the nearly 1 thousand unaccounted for warheads (read USSR weapons), buy a couple of the scientests from their weapons program, and feed the project lots of money. It is a very real possibility, and if you listen to "former military intel folks" that are sprouting up on the subject, our Government thinks it is a real possibility as well.