Free Republic

Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons. An Energy Department spokesperson disputed the number of personnel affected, telling CNN that “less than 50 people” were “dismissed” from NNSA, and that the dismissed staffers “held primarily administrative and clerical roles.” The agency began rescinding the terminations Friday morning. Some...

China has bombarded US warships with drones at least 151 times over the last five years: One LANDED on deck of destroyer near Hong Kong, Chinese national was arrested in Pearl Harbor flying one over fleet - and drones of unknown origin snooped nuclear stockpile US warships have been bombarded by suspected Chinese espionage via drones over the past five years, according to newly released Navy records. Following a Freedom of Information Act request from The War Zone, the unsealed documents show US fleets were plagued by unidentified drones that appeared to be documenting America's forces in the Pacific. Among...

The Obama administration is likely to reveal a closely guarded secret -- the size of the U.S. nuclear stockpile -- during a critical meeting starting Monday at which Washington will try to strengthen the global treaty that curbs the spread of nuclear weapons, several officials said. The numbers could be released as soon as Monday, when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is to address the NPT Review Conference in New York, officials said. She will speak after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is likely to repeat his demands for more global controls over the stockpiles of the nuclear nations.

An apparent delay in Iran’s building of a nuclear conversion plant suggests its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) gas will grow for a while longer, despite Tehran’s deal with world powers to curb its disputed atomic activity. Among other steps, Iran agreed under the six-month accord—which took effect on Monday—to limit its LEU reserve. The new plant is meant to achieve that by turning the material into oxide powder that is not suited for further processing into high-enriched—or bomb-grade—uranium. …

Minute Man II missile with a "replica" nuclear warhead was successfully launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, officials said. The National Nuclear Security Administration conducted the test in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force, an NNSA release said Thursday. The test was to evaluate the overall performance of the U.S. intercontinental ballistic weapon system, NNSA said. "This successful JTA (warhead) test illustrates NNSA's commitment to ensuring that all weapon systems perform as designed," said Brig. Gen. Garrett Harencak, NNSA Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application. "The continued strong cooperation between the NNSA and (the Department of Defense) is...

Defense: The administration proudly reveals a state secret to our enemies before a U.N. conference on nuclear nonproliferation. It wants to lead by example on disarmament, but Iran and North Korea aren't following. Not since the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact that sought to outlaw war as an instrument of national policy has there been such a stunning display of dangerous naivete. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton disclosed U.S. nuclear secrets to the U.N. conference while proudly proclaiming it showed America is sending "a clear, unmistakable signal" that this nation is committed to nuclear disarmament. Kellogg-Briand laid the groundwork for Munich in...

This is the first time the Pentagon has officially disclosed the number after previously regarding the information as top secret. A senior defence official said the size of the stockpile represents a 75% reduction since 1989. "Increasing the transparency of global nuclear stockpiles is important to non proliferation efforts," said a statement from the Pentagon. The US government last disclosed details of the stockpile in 1993, releasing figures current up to 1961. The total does not include warheads that have been retired and scheduled for dismantlement - an estimated 4,600 according to the Federation of American Scientists group. The release...

Top Democratic allies of President Barack Obama called Thursday for quick Senate ratification of a US-Russia treaty committing the former Cold War foes to major nuclear arms cuts. "This is too important to delay," said Democratic Senator John Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tasked with taking up the pact before a full vote by the entire chamber. Kerry said he would work with the panel's top Republican, Richard Lugar, after the Obama administration submits the full treaty "in early May" to hold hearings and "see that this historic treaty is ratified this year." Obama has called on...

The government is upgrading the X-ray technology that detects flaws in its nuclear weapons stockpile. The new machine, called the Confined Large Optical Scintillator Screen and Imaging System, or CoLOSSIS, uses thousands of 2D X-ray images to produce one 3D image depicting the inside of a nuclear weapon — the same way CT scanners generate 3D images of the inside of a human body. Developers say the new system will pick up more defects in the nuclear stockpile than the current 2D sensors and will eliminate the need to disassemble weapons to search for problems, which is a process that...

POLL President Bush wants to develop nuclear "bunker-buster" bombs and "mini-nukes" that could be unleashed on smaller targets. Is this a good idea? No. Developing smaller nukes makes it more likely that these horrific weapons will be used again in war. Yes. The U.S. military wouldn't use these weapons except in a desperate situation, but it needs to be prepared.