Donald Trump: US missiles have not been modernised, amid North Korea threat
IN THE process of threatening North Korea, Donald Trump made some scary claims about America’s nuclear arsenal. But did he have his facts straight?
DONALD Trump claims he has renovated and modernised the country’s nuclear arsenal, but experts say he’s stretching the truth. Bigly.
In an overnight Twitter post the President of the United States issued a veiled warning to North Korea over threats made against the US.
Mr Trump tweeted his first order as President was to make America’s weapons arsenal more powerful than ever — although he hoped he’d never have to use it.
My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017
...Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2017
The President’s tweets came hours after he warned North Korea the US would act with “fire and fury” like the world hasn’t seen before after it threatened a missile strike on a US Pacific territory of Guam.
But the suggestion that Mr Trump has enhanced US nuclear firepower has been disputed by experts who noted no such progress has been made in this area under his presidency.
According to Ashley Townshend, Acting Director for Foreign Policy, Defence and Strategy at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Mr Trump hasn’t made any such improvements regarding his country’s nuclear policy.
Mr Townshend said it was correct that Mr Trump has ordered a top-to-bottom Nuclear Posture Review, but noted that this process is still underway and that any changes it recommends to America’s nuclear arsenal would need to be approved by Congress.
“He has launched a review of America’s armed forces and is drafting a National Security Strategy, as required by law,” he said.
“Nuclear Posture Reviews take place periodically, every five years or so, and offer a way to recalibrate America’s nuclear doctrine, strength and capabilities in line with its overall strategy.”
“If Trump does make any changes they won’t have happened yet. The President can’t make such decisions by himself.”
Mr Townshend said Mr Trump’s comments were simply not accurate and many experts have dismissed his tweets as rubbish.
“He has signalled an interest in modernising America’s nuclear arsenal, nothing more than that,” Mr Townshend said.
“These comments significantly exaggerate the progress that has been made on nuclear weapons policy in this administration so far.”
An analysis by the Los Angeles Times also reveals at least parts of Mr Trump’s claims are false.
Washington-based reporter W.J. Hennigan, writes that Mr Trump didn’t order the modernisation of America’s nuclear arsenal.
He notes this was actually done by Barack Obama back in 2014, meaning America’s nuclear strength would be the same as when Mr Trump took office.
Mr Obama’s order, which is expected to cost around $400 billion and take 10 years to complete, will see the country’s nuclear facilities upgraded, as well as the construction of new bombers and ground-based missiles.
An analysis by NBC News also found there was no evidence to suggest the President had upgraded the country’s nuclear arsenal since taking office in January.
It said due to the way Congress works any changes that would have been made would not have taken effect before next year.
It also points out the arsenal Mr Trump is boasting about is the one maintained by his predecessor and this wasn’t even the President’s first order as he stated.
Republican Adam Smith, a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, told NBC News, Mr Trump’s review was actually nowhere near complete.
Independent nuclear weapons expert and editor and co-author of the book Atomic Audit also told Newsweek the President’s claims were far from accurate.
“The nuclear arsenal is somewhat smaller than it was 201 days ago because we are in the process of reducing nuclear weapons in compliance with the New START Treaty. And that’s not a bad thing,” he said.
TOUGH TALK
Mr Trump’s tough talk comes after US intelligence found North Korea had produced a nuclear warhead small enough to fit inside a ballistic missile.
The move has sidelined many experts who believed the secretive state was still some time off from achieving this aim.
Mr Trump has continued to ramp up his aggressive rhetoric against North Korea following its successful intercontinental ballistic missile launches last month.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called for calm and said people should “sleep well at night”.
“Nothing that I have seen and nothing that I know of would indicate that the situation has dramatically changed in the last 24 hours,” he said.
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