What are the idiots up too?

SIZE OF NUCLEAR STOCKPILE TO BE DISCLOSED

In an historic step, the U.S. Government will formally reveal the number of
nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal.

Until now, the shifting size of the nuclear arsenal had only been
declassified from 1945 up to 1961. Current stockpile figures were the
subject of more or less informed speculation. The pending disclosure was
first reported by the Washington Post.

Among other things, the declassification of the nuclear stockpile is a
milestone in secrecy reform. It means that what must be the single most
significant number in the domain of national security policy will now be in
the public domain. It will also set a standard by which the nuclear
transparency policies of other nations may be assessed.

If there is any cause for dismay in today's announcement, it is that it took
so long to accomplish. The Department of Energy, which has the highest
concentration of nuclear weapons expertise in the federal government, had
proposed declassification of stockpile size as early as 1992, as noted in a
2000 DOE fact sheet on the subject. But the DOE proposal was blocked by the
Department of Defense.

Other DOE declassification proposals that have been stymied would have
disclosed the explosive yield of retired or dismantled nuclear weapons
(blocked by DOD), and the locations of former nuclear weapons storage sites
abroad (blocked by DOD and State). An Energy Department classification
official told Secrecy News last week that the Department also favors public
disclosure of the budget of the DOE Office of Intelligence (which had been
public information up until 2004), but that the Director of National
Intelligence had vetoed the move.

"We get blamed for a lot of stuff that's not our fault," the DOE official
said.