Currently, we have a little over 5,000 nuclear weapons. Those include the weapons sitting on the tips of the Minutemen III missles sitting in silos in Montana and Idaho. Those also include those that sit in bunkers at Barksdale, Minot and McConnell that are to be loaded onto B-52's and B-1's. Additionally, there are approximately 300 at any one time sitting on the tips of the Poseidon's that ride in the belly of the Ohio class SSBN's that skulk in the depth of the oceans. Of the three carrier battle groups currently on deployment at any one time, all three carriers have 'special weapons' at their disposal. That is the triad that this country has used successfully to give idiots a second thought about attacking this nation. Whether Russia in the 50's or now, China, or even potentially Iran, the idea of the triad is sound deterrence.
What scares me is that the technology that I have mentioned is all from the 1970's, although the B-52 is from the 50's. Most of the 5,000 nuclear weapons are cruise missles and gravity bombs that are supposed to be used by the bombers and 'special' weapons that ride on carriers during their deployments. All of the artillery shells and other short range nuclear weapons developed for tactical exchange have been dismantled at a plant in Texas. 5,000 is a far cry from the 30,000+ weapons that we used to have in the early 60's. And let's remember that you don't build these things and forget them. You have to do maintenance on these weapons, especially the cruise missles, the Minuteman III's and the Poseidons.
Now Barry and his group have decided that we should UNILATERALLY destroy all but around 300 - 500 of these weapons. Believe it or not, I agree completely with Seawytch. However, if you do not understand the rotation of the weapons due to maintenance, platform availability, and other factors, then you ASSUME that if we keep 500 weapons, why then we'll have that many to use at any one time. Not even remotely true. Although we have eleven carrier battle groups, only THREE are at sea at anyone time. There are TWO that could be pushed out to sea, given a crisis and enough time. The same is true for those weapons. A number of the Minutemen III's go down at any one time for maintenance, inspection, etc. B-1 and B-52 availability at any one time is around 70%. Only a third of the Ohio's are at sea at any given moment.
You know, when Achmedenajad (SP?) goes to bed at night, I want him wondering if that crazy son-of-a-***** in the White House would actually retaliate with the full weight of the American military should Iran decide to do something really stupid. I want there to be only one answer to that question, and I want that answer to be YES. I want him to KNOW in the depth of his black heart that should they do something really stupid that the United States would turn Iran into the biggest glowing night light in the world.
Reducing the number of nuclear weapons is like a really catchy chant for a sit-in or peace rally. What it doesn't do is to take into consideration reality... Something Barry and his boys have a problem with.