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US Nukes: Our Biggest Challenge
By maudeaster on 2018-07-20 09:23:46
In recent years, our fear about nuclear weapons has focused on whether new countries will join the club — on Obama’s
successful efforts to prevent Iran from going nuclear (unfortunately now being undermined by Trump) and on Trump’s more
helpful opening dialog with North Korea on getting rid of its nukes. But now we urgently need to look inward at our own
= ais |
US nuclear program, with Congress within inches of > approving a Trump proposal that
would ignite a new arms race among the existing nuclear states ‘and would greatly increase the danger of nuclear
weapons use. The most pressing global challenge on nuclear weapons is whether the US will kick-off a new nuclear arms
Union of
Concerned
race by expanding the American arsenal to include new low-yield nuclear Scientists weapons, making the use of
nukes much more likely. The Union of Concerned Scientists decries the Trump administration’s new Nuclear Posture
Review_as “outlining radical, dangerous, and costly changes in US nuclear weapons policy that will make nuclear war more
likely and the United States—and the entire world—less safe.” A Congressional reconciliation committee is now considering
an amendment to Trump’s military budget for next year. Unless there is major public outcry, Congress may soon approve a
plan:
¢ To spend $1.7 trillion over the next 30 years to re-build the entire US nuclear arsenal, funds desperately needed for
education, health, infrastructure and more;
¢ To add 2 new, un-needed types of nuclear weapons to the US arsenal, on top of the 7 we already have;
¢ To make the possible use of nuclear weapons much more tempting by adding more low-yield nukes;
¢ To increase submarine - launched nukes, inherently more ===="dangerous because harder
to cancel if launched in error or if the situation changes;
e To continue the extremely dangerous policy giving one person—the president—sole, unchecked authority to launch
nuclear weapons.
Just nine months ago, President Trump’s threats to rain down the “fire and fury” of nuclear warfare on North Korea were
—terrifying. For a president who doesn’t like to be briefed on the complexity of a
situation, and who doesn’t seem interested in possible far-ranging consequences of his action, to have sole power to launch
weapons capable of massive human slaughter and global-wide environmental destruction makes absolutely no sense.
additional officials to join the president in signing off on any nuclear strike. It’s important to remember all signers of
the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty have obligations - not just the non-nuclear states. Under Article 6, all states,
including the US and the other 8 existing nuclear powers are required to “undertake to pursue negotiations in good faith on
effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty
on general and complete disarmament under struct and effective international control.” To understand why the US and
others should be REIS saaworking on disarmament instead of launching a new nuclear
arms race, I recommend Dr. Helen Caldicott’s new book, Sleepwalking to Armageddon -- an excellent collection of
essays by the world’s leading nuclear scientists. Caldicott explains: “Chapters address the size and distribution of the current
global nuclear arsenal, the history and politics of nuclear weapons, the culture of modern-day weapons labs, the
The Threat of Nuclear Annihilation
edited amd weith am ia a by
HELEN GALOIGOTT
militarization of space, and the dangers of ombining artificial intelligence with nuclear
weaponry, as well as a status report on enriched uranium and a shocking analysis of spending on nuclear weapons over the
years. The book ends with a devastating description of what a nuclear attack on Manhattan would look like, followed by an
overview of contemporary antinuclear activism. Both essential and terrifying, this book is sure to become the new bible of
the antinuclear movement—to wake us from our complacency and urge us to action.” Here’s the action I hope you will
join me in today: sign this Letter to Members of Congress. Tell them you want them to say no to the Trump
fey
AMET
administration’s new nuclear weapons policy.
