‘THEY’RE ABOUT TO COMPLETE A TRIAD’: This week in Washington, Adm. Chas Richard, head of the U.S. Strategic Command and thereby commander of America’s nuclear forces, delivered a sobering message: the U.S. is quickly falling behind both China and Russia in fielding modern, next generation nuclear weapons.

In testimony before the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Richard called China’s rapidly expanding nuclear capability “breathtaking,” and said that the Chinese are well ahead of the pace to double their stockpile by the end of the decade.” But it’s not just the raw number of warheads that has Richard concerned, it’s China’s new nuclear command and control which allows it to integrate land-based missiles, bombers, and submarines to give them “a launch under warning or launch under attack capability” that right now only the U.S. and the Russians possess.