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United States I: Senior Officials to Meet Thursday to Discuss Nuclear Arsenal About 150 U.S. officials are expected to meet this week at U.S. Strategic Command headquarters to discuss the future of the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal, according to Reuters (see GSN, Aug. 1). The meeting, scheduled for Thursday at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska, will involve officials from the U.S. Defense Department, Energy Department, State Department, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the National Security Council, said Pentagon spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers. The meeting will be chaired by Pentagon official Michael Wynne, acting undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics. “They’re going to take a look at the status of the nation’s nuclear stockpile, particularly with an eye toward the Moscow Treaty that says we’ve got to get our stockpile numbers down, and how do we do that in a manner that still allows us to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent,” Shavers said, referring to the U.S.-Russian Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (see GSN, July 24). Some arms control experts are concerned, however, that the meeting could lead to resumed U.S. nuclear testing and the development of new nuclear weapons, according to Reuters. The meeting could result in the determination of a military requirement for a new type of nuclear weapon, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “Traditionally, once there has been a stated need by the uniformed military for a new weapon to deal with some contingency or some threat that’s out there, that has been the catalyst for design, engineering, development and testing of nuclear weapons,” Kimball said (Will Dunham, Reuters/Planet Ark, Aug. 5).
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