Trump Orders U.S. to Resume Nuclear Weapons Testing

President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered the U.S. military to resume nuclear weapons testing, saying the move was necessary to match advances by Russia and China. He announced the directive late Wednesday on his social media platform, less than an hour before a scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, and said the testing would "begin immediately."

"Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis," Trump wrote, using the phrase Department of War. He also wrote that "The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country," a claim that independent estimates dispute. According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Russia currently possesses more than 5,500 warheads while the United States has about 5,044.

The United States has not conducted a full-scale nuclear explosive test since 1992, when then-president George H.W. Bush announced a moratorium that has effectively remained in place. Officials had not publicized immediate details on what form renewed testing would take, and the Pentagon did not immediately provide a...