Navy personnel are forbidden to disclose or even discuss the presence or absence of nuclear weapons aboard any U.S. Navy vessel, according to a new Navy Instruction.
“Military members and civilian employees of the Department of the Navy shall not reveal, purport to reveal, or cause to be revealed any information, rumor, or speculation with respect to the presence or absence of nuclear weapons or components on board any specific ship, station or aircraft, either on their own initiative or in response, direct or indirect, to any inquiry.”
See OPNAV Instruction 5721.1F, “Release of Information on Nuclear Weapons and on Nuclear Capabilities of U.S. Forces,” February 3, 2006.
The new Instruction was first spotted by Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists.
See his paper “The Neither Confirm Nor Deny Policy: Nuclear Diplomacy at Work,” February 2006.
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