Obama administration to increase spending for nuclear armaments

News, US February 4, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

The United States is set to increase spending on its stockpile of nuclear warheads at a higher rate than for many other military programs, says a report citing the White House budget documents published recently.

According the proposal for fiscal 2016 released on Monday, the Obama administration called for spending $8.85 billion for maintaining and rebuilding the US nuclear warheads, the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) reported.

The figure shows an increase of more than eight percent over current levels, said the American nonprofit investigative journalism organization in a Tuesday report.

The proposal also demands a four-percent increase in the Pentagon spending, which would raise it from the $560.3 billion in 2015 to $585.2 billion in 2016.

US rebuilding of its nuclear forces is not only about spending on warheads but also includes reconstruction of long-range bombers, subs and missiles over the next three decades.

Meanwhile, the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) defended the increase, with its head, Frank Klotz, saying the stockpile of US nuclear warheads is the “smallest and oldest”.

“As long as we have this nuclear deterrent, it must remain effective,” Klotz said.

The new budget, unveiled by President Barack Obama on Monday, calls for $3.99 trillion in spending and $3.53 trillion in revenue.

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