US reveals size of its nuclear stockpile historically kept top secret

Washington has revealed the size of its nuclear arsenal. The Pentagon says it has 5,113 warheads currently deployed, in reserve, or in storage. It’s the first time in decades the US disclosed the numbers.

The US Defense Department says the number of nuclear warheads has been cut by 75 per cent over the last 20 years, but there are still “several thousand” retired nukes that are on the list for dismantling.

Peter Crail from the Arms Control Association says this revelation is just a part of President Obama's non-proliferation efforts.

“It’s a significant transparency because it’s the number the United States has historically been unwilling to reveal exactly. And what you have is part of the Obama administration’s push to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime,” he said. “It follows on a number of efforts including a treaty with Russia and nuclear summit to try and make progress both in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, and also to reduce the number of nuclear weapons that countries that possess them have.”