Trump Misfires on Nuclear Weapons Boast
A day after he threatened North Korea with “fire and fury,” President Donald Trump distorted the facts when he boasted that his “first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal” and “it is now far stronger and more powerful than ever.”
It’s true that Trump directed his secretary of defense to initiate a Nuclear Posture Review. But that review was not his “first order”; it was not unexpected; and it won’t be done until the end of the year, so it has yet to result in any improvements.
All U.S. presidents since Bill Clinton have undertaken Nuclear Posture Reviews, or NPRs, at the of their administrations. , which was completed in April 2010, resulted in a modernization plan that includes new nuclear submarines, intercontinental ballistic missiles and Air Force bombers.
