Tom Brokaw asks former U.S. Senator Nunn: Should the United States be doing something about reducing its own nuclear arsenal? The Senator responds:
“The United States and Russia have to lead this quest for making the world safer from nuclear terrorism. But to do that the United States and Russia have to establish some degree of credibility on the nuclear equation. We still have – “we” being the United States and Russia – 14 years after the end of the Cold War, where we are trying to cooperate around the globe, where we have all sorts of mutual interests and stakes, like terrorism, like the threat of nuclear materials, like the battlefield nuclear weapons that aren’t secured… we have all sorts of mutual interests now. But while we have that, we have the Nonproliferation Treaty, which has helped deter nuclear powers, people becoming nuclear powers for the last 30 years…it’s in grave jeopardy because – for many reasons – but one of them is people don’t see the United States and Russia doing much on our own nuclear arsenal. And our own country is talking about new weapons. We’ve tested more than anyone else and we’re talking about new weapons. The Russians are relying more on nuclear weapons now than they did during the Cold War because of their conventional weaknesses. The Russians have a warning system that’s deteriorating. There’s more chance of an accident now, mistaken belief that the Russians are under attack, than there was during the Cold War. We could take all the Moscow Treaty weapons off alert tomorrow morning. We’re going to get rid of these weapons anyway, it’s already scheduled by 2012. Take them off alert. This kind of nuclear posture on both sides is much more of a danger than a deterrent. And when you look at the deteriorating warning systems in Russia … you have to say … our survival may depend on those warning systems and whether they work properly. This is an absurd posture … and it also erodes the kind of credibility we need in the world to get others to join us to put pressure on powers like Iran and North Korea.”
Note from BW: Last Best Chance is a great tool for awareness and action. Please go to www.nti.org to order your free copy. Watch it, pass it along, and call your members of Congress to urge them to put this issue on the front burner. The congressional switchboard number is 202-225-3121.
I’d like to add you to the list of people ordering the DVD. Please let me know: bobbiewrenn@mindspring.com.
