Trump Wanted Tenfold Increase in Nuclear Arsenal, Surprising Military

The following article by Courtney Kube, Kristen Welker, Carol E. Lee and Savannah Guthrie was posted on the NBC News website October 11, 2017:

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he wanted what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal during a gathering this past summer of the nation’s highest-ranking national security leaders, according to three officials who were in the room.

Trump’s comments, the officials said, came in response to a briefing slide he was shown that charted the steady reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons since the late 1960s. Trump indicated he wanted a bigger stockpile, not the bottom position on that downward-sloping curve. Continue reading “Trump Wanted Tenfold Increase in Nuclear Arsenal, Surprising Military”