The United States is losing the nuclear weapons race to Russia.
For the first time in history, State Department START Treaty documents show, Russia has more nuclear weapons deployed than the U.S.,
The Washington Times reports.
Russia, in the middle of an upgrade of its nuclear weapons arsenal, now boasts 1,643 nuclear warheads in intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines, and heavy bombers, while the U.S. has 1,642, according to an annual
State Department report required under the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
The new report shows an increase by Russia of 131 warheads since March 1, while the U.S. inventory increased by 57.
In 2012, the U.S. had 1,722 warheads deployed, while the Russians had just 1,499.
Mark Schneider, former Pentagon strategic weapons specialist, told the Times, "All U.S. numbers have declined since New START entry into force. The fact that this is happening reflects the ineffectiveness of the Obama administration's approach to New START."
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said, "Not only did Russia violate the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (IRNF) Treaty, signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, it did so while negotiating with the Obama Administration over new START, a 2010 arms reduction treaty."
Ihofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Armed Services, has blasted Russia for developing new nuclear weapons, particularly a ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM), in stark violation of the 1987 treaty.
"The White House was at best naïve to Russian duplicity; at worst, it was complicit," Inhofe wrote in
Foreign Policy.
Russia, Inhofe wrote, "used the arms control process to reduce the threat posed by U.S. strategic nuclear forces, while simultaneously pursuing alternative nuclear capabilities — such as cruise missiles — in support of its military strategy and national security.
"The United States under President Obama, on the other hand, has tried to set a disarmament and nuclear nonproliferation example by reducing the role and numbers of nuclear weapons in U.S. strategy in the hope that the rest of the world would follow.
"It hasn't."
The State Department fact sheet reveals that Russia has built its stock of warheads on intercontinental ballistic missiles, silo-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers to 528, up from 498 from the last report.
"What's harder to explain," Inhofe wrote, "is why we let them get away with it."
To keep up, Inhofe recommends that the U.S. expand missile defense capabilities, restore lost funding to U.S. nuclear weapons programs and consult with NATO about strengthening regional missile defenses.
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