Pentagon Briefs Bush on Nuclear ForcesUS President George W. Bush visited the Pentagon Wednesday for a briefing on US nuclear forces in preparation for decisions on reducing nuclear weapons.Bush met with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and senior military leaders at the Pentagon for about 90 minutes, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. The briefing was held to inform the president of nuclear strategy details rather than to seek his approval for near-term weapons cuts, officials said. Vice President Dick Cheney and the president's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice also attended the briefing. Bush received a detailed briefing about complexities of U.S. nuclear forces from Adm. Richard W. Mies, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, which is responsible for all U.S. strategic nuclear forces. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed at their summit meeting last month to move forward with talks on nuclear force reductions while also discussing U.S. plans to build missile defenses. |
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