U.S is back to "transparency policy" towards nuclear stockpiles, announced the U.S department of state

The United States released newly declassified information on the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile to update the information previously released in September 2017.

“Increasing the transparency of states’ nuclear stockpiles is important to nonproliferation and disarmament efforts, including commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and efforts to address all types of nuclear weapons, including deployed and non-deployed, and strategic and non-strategic,” said the U.S department of state in statement published in its official website.

Biden administration issues, yesterday, Tuesday, the numbers of stockpile of nuclear warheads that reached 3,750 warheads, in September 2020. This number represents an approximate 88 percent reduction in the stockpile from its maximum (31,255) at the end of fiscal year 1967, and an approximate 83 percent reduction from its level (22,217) when the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989.

From fiscal years 1994 through 2020, the United States dismantled 11,683 nuclear warheads. Since September 30, 2017, the U.S has dismantled 711 nuclear warheads. Meanwhile, approximately 2,000 additional nuclear warheads are currently retired and awaiting dismantlement.

The number of U.S. non-strategic nuclear weapons has declined by more than 90 percent since September 30, 1991, according to the U.S department of state
During the Cold War, the United States possessed large numbers and a wide range of non-strategic nuclear weapons, also known as theater or tactical nuclear weapons. Since 1991, the United States has retired and dismantled nearly all of those weapons.

Biden’s move reverses Trump administration’s decision in 2020 when The Republican administration denied a request from the Federation of American Scientists to disclose the size of the US nuclear weapons stockpile and the number of dismantled warheads.

The denial was made by the Department of Defense Formerly Restricted Data Declassification Working Group (FDR DWG) in response to a petition from Steven Aftergood, director of the FAS Project on Government Secrecy.

In its denial letter, the DOD Formerly Restricted Data Declassification Working Group (FDR DWG) gave no reason for the denial other than stating that “the information requested cannot be declassified at this time.”

Between 2010 and 2017, the Obama administration released annual numbers about the nuclear weapons stockpile as well as the entire history of the stockpile size going back to 1945, as part of Obama’s transparency promise towards Nuclear weapons.

Despite progress in reducing nuclear weapon arsenals since the Cold War, the world’s combined inventory of nuclear warheads remains at a very high level: Nine countries possessed roughly 13,100 warheads as of early-2021.

The information available for each nuclear-armed country varies greatly, ranging from the most transparent nuclear weapons state, United States, to the most opaque, Israel. Accordingly, while the estimate for the United States is based on “real” numbers, the estimates for several of the other nuclear weapon states are highly uncertain.

Approximately 91 percent of all nuclear warheads are owned by Russia and the United States who each have around 4,000 warheads in their military stockpiles; even though no nuclear-armed state needs for more than a few hundred nuclear weapons for national security.