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Trump: US must 'greatly strengthen' nuclear capability
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President-elect Donald Trump, right, speaks to members of the media after a meeting with admirals and generals from the Pentagon at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016. - photo by Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday abruptly called for the United States to "greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability" until the rest of the world "comes to its senses" regarding nuclear weapons.His comments on Twitter came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin said strengthening his country's nuclear capabilities should be a chief military objective in the coming year. The president-elect's statement also followed his meetings a day earlier with top Pentagon officials and defense contractors.Trump, who is spending the holidays at his palatial private club in Florida, did not expand on the actions he wants the U.S. to take or say why he raised the issue Thursday.Spokesman Jason Miller said the president-elect was referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation "particularly to and among terrorist organizations and unstable and rogue regimes." Miller said Trump sees modernizing the nation's deterrent capability "as a vital way to pursue peace through strength."If Trump were to seek an expansion of the nuclear stockpiles, it would mark a sharp shift in U.S. national security policy.
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