U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is calling for the development of a new generation of American nuclear weapons to deter aggression by a variety of potential adversaries, including rogue states and terrorists. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

Secretary Gates says the United States is the only declared nuclear power that does not have a nuclear weapons modernization program and the ability to build new nuclear warheads. He says U.S. allies France and Britain have such programs, as do two countries which he says are not U.S. adversaries, but whose nuclear modernization efforts can not be ignored.

"China and Russia have embarked on ambitious paths to design and field new weapons. To be blunt, there is absolutely no way we can maintain a credible deterrent and reduce the number of weapons in our stockpile without …