Groups Thank SECDEF for Unclassified NPR, Stockpile Data
Leaders of more than a dozen public interest organizations and professional societies wrote to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to applaud two recent achievements in nuclear weapons transparency: the publication of the Nuclear Posture Review Report for the first time in unclassified format and the disclosure of the size of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.
“We believe that the public release of the unclassified NPR Report is a significant and long-overdue step in the maturation of our national nuclear policy,” the public interest groups wrote. “Release of the unclassified NPR Report will not resolve the continuing debate over the future of nuclear weapons policy, but it will enable it to proceed on a more informed basis.”
“Similarly, the declassification of the current nuclear stockpile is an historic milestone both in nuclear weapons policy and in classification policy…. We believe this disclosure will serve to strengthen what should be an international norm of increasing transparency on nuclear matters. By leading through example, we hope the U.S. action will elicit a response in kind from other nuclear nations.”
“We also look forward to further steps, including the Department’s future implementation of the Fundamental Classification Guidance Review that was required by the President’s executive order…. This initiative should help to eliminate other obsolete or unnecessary classification restrictions.”
The May 4 letter was coordinated by OpenTheGovernment.org.
With summer 2025 in the rearview mirror, we’re taking a look back to see how federal actions impacted heat preparedness and response on the ground, what’s still changing, and what the road ahead looks like for heat resilience.
Satellite imagery of RAF Lakenheath reveals new construction of a security perimeter around ten protective aircraft shelters in the designated nuclear area, the latest measure in a series of upgrades as the base prepares for the ability to store U.S. nuclear weapons.
It will take consistent leadership and action to navigate the complex dangers in the region and to avoid what many analysts considered to be an increasingly possible outcome, a nuclear conflict in East Asia.
Getting into a shutdown is the easy part, getting out is much harder. Both sides will be looking to pin responsibility on each other, and the court of public opinion will have a major role to play as to who has the most leverage for getting us out.