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- U.S. nuclear weapons strategy is up for revision this year, the one opportunity President Obama will have to make major strategic changes, replacing two policy directives of President Bush from 2002. His Presidential Policy Directive will determine the size, structure, ready status, and role of our entire nuclear arsenal for years to come. Currently, the US has about 5,000 active nuclear weapons, and another 3,500 awaiting dismantlement.
- As the President himself proclaimed in his 2009 Prague speech, we need to “put an end to Cold War thinking" to "reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy and urge others to do the same." Even the Pentagon's strategic defense review released January 5 asserted: “It is possible that our deterrence goals can be achieved with a smaller nuclear force, which would reduce the number of nuclear weapons in our inventory as well as their role in U.S. national security strategy.” Intentional nuclear attack with a “return address” is unlikely, while accidental nuclear war is an all-too-real possibility that we've come close to several times.
- Obama has shown leadership in moving away from “two war” strategic plans and articulating the need to put nuclear weapons on the path to zero. In the 21st century, nuclear weapons are a global security liability, not an asset.
Thank the President for his leadership and urge him to use this year's Presidential Policy Directive to put substance behind the rhetoric of eliminating our dependence on nuclear weapons. Specifically, ask him to (1) reduce the number of weapons and delivery vehicles well beyond the numbers set by the New START treaty, (2) take all weapons off high alert, (3) adopt a “no first use” policy, and (4) cut the $200 billion in plans for new bombers, submarines, missiles, and nuclear weapons factories.
- Web: www.whitehouse.gov/contact
- Tel: 202 456-1111 (9:00 am to 5:00 pm)
- Fax: 202 456-2461
- Mail:
- President Barack Obama
- The White House
- 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
- Washington, DC 20500
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- For further information, see article by Joseph Cirincione in Foreign Affairs, February 2, 2012. You may also want to sign the online petition sponsored by the Campaign for a Nuclear Free World. But remember that a personal letter or call is much more effective than petitions or "cookie-cutter" emails to influence policy-makers.
- Photo credit: Untitled, (Hound), Tim Barber, tim-barber.com
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