Category: Sunflower

Ten Worst Acts of the Nuclear Age

by David Krieger

The ten worst acts of the Nuclear Age described below have set the tone for our time. They have caused immense death and suffering; been tremendously expensive; have encouraged nuclear proliferation; have opened the door to nuclear terrorism, nuclear accidents and nuclear war; and are leading the world back into a second Cold War. These “ten worst acts” are important information for anyone attempting to understand the time in which we live, and how the nuclear dangers that confront us have been intensified by the leadership and policy choices made by the United States and the other eight nuclear-armed countries.

To read more, click here.

The Pentagon’s Real Strategy: Keeping the Money Flowing

by Andrew Cockburn

After 15 years of grinding war with no obvious end in sight, U.S. military operations certainly deserve such obloquy. But the pundit outrage may be misplaced. Focusing on Washington rather than on distant war zones, it becomes clear that the military establishment does indeed have a strategy, a highly successful one, which is to protect and enhance its own prosperity.

Ongoing and dramatic programs to invest vast sums in meaningless, useless, or superfluous weapons systems are the norm. There is no more striking example of this than current plans to rebuild the entire American arsenal of nuclear weapons in the coming decades, Obama’s staggering bequest to the budgets of his successors.

To read more, click here.

U.S. Conference of Mayors Unanimously Passes Nuclear Disarmament Resolution

The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), for the 11th consecutive year, adopted a strong resolution in support of nuclear disarmament. The USCM “calls on the next President of the United States, in good faith, to participate in or initiate… multilateral negotiations for the elimination of nuclear weapons as required by the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.”

The resolution commends President Obama for visiting Hiroshima and concluding negotiations with Iran, but notes that “the Obama Administration has laid the groundwork for the United States to spend one trillion dollars over the next three decades to maintain and modernize its nuclear bombs and warheads, production facilities, delivery systems, and command and control,” and that “federal funds are desperately needed in our communities to build affordable housing, create jobs with livable wages, improve public transit, and develop sustainable energy sources.” The USCM “calls on the next President and Congress of the United States to reduce nuclear weapons spending to the minimum necessary to assure the safety and security of the existing weapons as they await disablement and dismantlement, and to redirect those funds to address the urgent needs of cities and rebuild our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.”

Jackie Cabasso, “U.S. Conference of Mayors Unanimously Adopts Resolution,” Mayors for Peace, June 28, 2016.

Largest Concentration of Nuclear Weapons Just 20 Miles from Seattle

For the next eight weeks, fourteen Seattle busses will warn the city’s public of their close proximity to the largest nuclear weapons complex in the United States, Naval Base Kitsap. The bus advertisements ‒ purchased by local peace group, Ground Zero for Nonviolent Action ‒ were produced to bring public attention to the construction of a new underground nuclear storage complex. Located at the Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific (SWFPAC), the new complex was constructed only 20 miles from downtown Seattle.

Though construction of the facility was completed in 2012, the cost of the facility ‒ $294 million ‒ and its explosive power ‒ over 14,000 Hiroshimas ‒ has escaped public attention. The underground complex was designed to better protect nuclear weapons that were before stored in aboveground igloos and bunkers.

Hans Kristensen, “Navy Builds Underground Nuclear Weapons Storage Facility; Seattle Busses Carry Warning,” Federation of American Scientists, June 27, 2016.

Scientists Call for End to Hair-Trigger Alert

Over 90 prominent scientists, including many Nobel Laureates, have sent a letter to President Obama, calling for action on nuclear weapons. The coalition of scientists is urging President Obama to take U.S. land-based missiles off “hair-trigger alert,” which enables their rapid launch. Keeping these weapons on hair-trigger alert allows for potentially reckless behavior, a lack of time constraints leading to swift and impulsive decision-making. The letter, sent on June 21, categorizes the risk of hair-trigger-alert as “unacceptably high.”

The policy of hair-trigger alert can be traced back to the Cold War. It was, in its time, a practice used for immediate retaliation for Soviet attacks against the U.S. and vice-versa. When the fear of a first-strike attack was in the minds of all, a swift response would have been necessary (as was claimed at the time). However, the outdated practice is now the cause for growing concern. There have been a wealth of problems associated with hair-trigger alert — false alarms, human error, and technical failures all being cited as causes for near-use. Ambiguity associated with sensors is also great reason for concern, both Russia and the U.S. coming frighteningly close to launching based on misinterpreted data.

Lisbeth Gronlund, “Top Scientists Call for Obama to Take Nuclear Missiles off Hair-Trigger Alert,” Union of Concerned Scientists, June 22, 2016.

Brexit Vote Will Not Affect U.S.-UK Nuclear Weapons Partnership

The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union will not affect the UK-U.S. nuclear relationship, according to Vice Adm. Terry Benedict, director of the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs. He expressed no concern regarding the recent vote and is confident that nuclear weapons collaboration will continue.

The U.S. and UK have maintained a “special relationship” for decades. The two countries claim that this special relationship permits them to share nuclear weapons systems and technology. The U.S. currently leases Trident II D5 missiles to the UK to use on its Vanguard class nuclear-armed submarines.

The two navies are currently working on developing missile compartments for planned replacement nuclear-armed submarines. The new submarines would be deployed through the 2080s.

Otto Kreisher, “Benedict: UK Exit from European Union Won’t Hinder Nuclear Sub Collaboration,” USNI News, June 24, 2016.

Biden Says Japan Could Go Nuclear “Virtually Overnight”

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told Chinese President Xi Jinping that Japan has the ability to develop nuclear weapons overnight. This statement was made as a tactic to urge President Xi to influence North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program.

In response, Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko said at a news conference in Tokyo that Japan “can never possess nuclear weapons.” Seko said the three non-nuclear principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese territory are an important basic policy of the Japanese government.

“Japan Could Get Nuclear Weapons ‘Virtually Overnight,’ Biden Tells Xi,” Kyodo, June 24, 2016.

North Korea Conducts Missile Tests

In June, North Korea conducted two controversial missile tests. The first launch failed, while the second missile landed 400 kilometers from the launch site, sinking into the ocean near Japan’s exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the Japanese coast.

Believed to be a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile that can fly up to 4,000 kilometers, this weapon could strike Japan or Guam. B-52 strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons are hosted by the U.S. military in Guam. The Japanese Defense Ministry states that the Musudan can fly faster than the previous-generation Rodong mid-range ballistic missile, raising concerns that its defense may not be able to intercept the Musudan in the event that Japan is targeted.

The UN Security Council released a statement condemning the tests, saying, “The members of the Security Council deplore all DPRK ballistic missile activities noting that such activities contribute to the DPRK’s development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension.” The permanent five members of the UN Security Council (United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France and China) regularly test nuclear-capable missiles without UN Security Council comment.

“N. Korea Missile Landed ‘In Target Zone’ Outside EEZ,” The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 24, 2016.

TEPCO Head Apologizes for Fukushima Meltdown Coverup

Over five years after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant crisis began, TEPCO President Naomi Hirose publicly apologized for his predecessor’s order to not use the phrase “core meltdown” in March 2011. A report revealed that TEPCO’s then-President Masataka Shimizu told the vice president to instead use the euphemistic phrase “core damage” to describe the conditions of the crippled reactors. TEPCO continued to use the less serious phrase “core damage” for two months, until finally using the term “meltdown” in May 2011.

Mr. Hirose said, “It is extremely regrettable. People are justified in thinking it as a coverup.”

TEPCO’s internal manual considered a meltdown as damage to more than five percent of the fuel. However, TEPCO initially did not address it as a meltdown even when the March 2011 report indicated that the event damaged 25 to 55 percent of the fuel rods.

“Tepco Head Apologizes for 3/11 Ban Issued on ‘Meltdown’,” Kyodo, June 21, 2016.

California’s Last Nuclear Power Plant to Close by 2025

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) has announced that it will close the two reactors at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and, in their place, will develop more solar, wind, and other clean power sources. Located along the ocean cliffs of Avila Beach, Diablo Canyon has provided electricity for more than 1.7 million homes in Central and Northern California.

Various groups such as Friends of the Earth collaborated with PG&E to reach an agreement that the power plant will be closed after the current operating licenses expire in November 2024 and August 2025. This deal will contribute to California’s goal of generating 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

Ivan Penn and Samantha Masunaga, “PG&E to Close Diablo Canyon, California’s Last Nuclear Power Plant,” Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2016.

Five More Added to Drug Probe at Air Force Nuclear Base

Five more airmen are under investigation for illegal drug activity at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. The total number of airmen under investigation for illegal drug activity has now reached 19.

All airmen under investigation are members of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base. The base manages 150 Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Sixteen of the airmen are responsible for securing Minuteman III missile fields in Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska as well as transportation oversight of the missiles.

Robert Burns, “5 Added to Drug Probe at Air Force Nuclear Base,” Associated Press, June 15, 2016.

Fifty Years Later, U.S. Air Force Still in Denial Over Palomares Nuclear Accident

In 1966, an aircraft accident above the Spanish coast set four hydrogen bombs plummeting into the small farming village of Palomares. The U.S. Air Force – responsible for the B-52 bomber handling the weapons – would waste no time making sure “one of the biggest nuclear accidents in history” was swept under the rug. Though many of the 1,600 veterans recruited for the cleanup would go on to report the agonizing effects of plutonium poisoning – cancers, blood diseases, tremors, neurological disorders – they would find themselves cleansed from Air Force medical records.

Fifty years later, many veterans report segments of their medical documentation missing and have begun speaking out. Accounts of Geiger counters showing high levels of radioactivity at the site have emerged, and many veterans report having been instructed to pick up radioactive fragments with their bare hands. Though their stories and suffering bodies remain potent evidence of the fallout released during the 1966 crash, many veterans still find themselves barred access to medical treatment, by an Air Force that disputes their claims of exposure.

The Spanish people of Palomares have also been affected by the accident. The area is still contaminated by plutonium released during the 1966 crash. Although in 2015 the United States agreed to clean up the remaining plutonium, currently no plan of action exists and all operations remain at a standstill.

Dave Philipps, “Decades Later, Sickness Among Airmen After a Hydrogen Bomb Accident,” The New York Times, June 19, 2016.

Nuclear Security Firm Employed Orlando Shooter

Omar Mateen, the man who killed 49 people at a Florida nightclub last month, worked for the company G4 Security Solutions (G4S) for nine years. G4S is a private security firm that has “partnered with more than 90 percent of U.S. nuclear facilities.” The firm employed Mateen for nine years, arming him with a gun despite warnings from co-workers that he claimed connections with Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the Boston Marathon bombers. Mateen also landed himself on the FBI’s terrorist watch list for threatening a local sheriff. Though G4S was ordered to fire the unstable security guard, Mateen was instead transferred to another post where he retained his license to carry a gun.

Although G4S claims they were unaware of Mateen’s presence on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist, this is not the first time that the company has been charged with security negligence. In 2006, G4S guards at the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station in Florida were reported sleeping on the job. A year later, 12 security guards from the company were videotaped sleeping at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania. In 2012, the Y-12 National Security Complex  ‒ “protected” by G4S security guards ‒ was broken into by three peace activists, including an 82-year-old nun. Investigations following the incident found broken security cameras, and that G4S guards ignored all alarms that sounded.

Eric Schlosser, “The Security Firm that Employed the Orlando Shooter Protects American Nuclear Facilities,” The New Yorker, June 27, 2016.

Amidst Opposition, Long Range Standoff Warhead Moves Ahead

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, attempted to amend the 2017 defense authorization bill by proposing a $75.8 million cut to the proposed Long Range Standoff Warhead (LRSO). Unfortunately, his efforts were undercut by Democrats and Republicans alike, with his amendment failing 159-261.

There is also important opposition to the LRSO in the Senate. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) recently published an op-ed in The New York Times entitled “A Nuclear Weapon That America Doesn’t Need.” In it, she raised three questions that should have been addressed in the initial stages of LRSO research and development: Does the military need a new cruise missile? What role will it serve? What are the costs? Critical analysis of the LRSO plan is crucial, seeing as investment itself could be interpreted as aggressive rather than an act of deterrence.

Feinstein called on “Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to…provide Congress with an analysis of alternatives to this missile. In particular, we want to know if the Defense Department has studied whether existing nuclear and conventional weapons are sufficient to strike enemy targets. He should also certify that the sole objective of the weapon is nuclear deterrence. We want to eliminate any ambiguity that this new missile would be an offensive weapon. And he should provide a public cost estimate. If taxpayers are expected to foot the bill, the price should not be shrouded in secrecy.”

Joe Gould and Aaron Mehta, “After Nuclear Missile Loss, Dems Vow to Keep Fighting,” Defense News, June 25, 2016.

Strategic Deterrent Coalition Meets in New Mexico

Admiral Cecil D. Haney, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, promoted the $1 trillion “modernization” of the U.S. nuclear arsenal at the 2016 Strategic Deterrent Coalition Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Speaking to over 250 academics, military officials, contractors, and defense employees, Haney cited the age of current U.S. nuclear weapons as problematic. “We’re fast approaching the point where having an effective nuclear deterrent will be put at risk [if the weapons are not modernized],” he said.

Haney called for a robust nuclear modernization program in response to the actions of Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. He did not address whether he thinks that U.S. nuclear modernization is spurring a nuclear arms race with the other nuclear-armed nations, nor whether he believes that nuclear weapons can effectively deter non-state actors such as ISIS and al-Qaeda.

Charles Brunt, “U.S. Must Maintain Nuclear Capability, Commander Warns,” Albuquerque Journal, June 22, 2016.

Marshall Islands’ Lawsuits Get Coverage in France

France is one of the nine nuclear-armed nations sued by the Republic of the Marshall Islands at the International Court of Justice for breaches of international law that require negotiations for an end to the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament. France does not accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, and has thus far declined to accept the jurisdiction of the Court in this particular case.

For French-speaking readers of The Sunflower, Jean-Marie Collin, director of the French section of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, has written an excellent article in Le Monde Diplomatique, a widely-read journal in France about diplomacy and international affairs.

Jean-Marie Collin, “La Bombe Juridique des Iles Marshall Contre les Puissances Nucléaires,” Le Monde Diplomatique, June 2016.

20th Anniversary of World Court Advisory Opinion

July 8 will mark the 20th anniversary of the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the illegality of nuclear weapons. The 1996 Advisory Opinion has played a large role in the Marshall Islands’ cases against the United Kingdom, India and Pakistan that are currently before the ICJ.

The Advisory Opinion states in part, “There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control.” To read the full opinion, click here.

In Sydney, Australia, from July 6-8, there will be an International Peoples Tribunal on the Nuclear Powers and the Destruction of Human Civilization. The tribunal will examine nuclear weapons policies of the nine nuclear-armed countries, outline the risks and consequences of nuclear weapons use, and apply current law to these policies to determine legality.

July’s Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog is chomsky.info. While not a blog in the traditional sense, the site contains links to numerous recent articles by Noam Chomsky, including “Rogue States and Nuclear Dangers,” and “The Doomsday Clock, Nuclear Weapons, Climate Change, and the Prospects for Survival.”

Noam Chomsky is a member of the NAPF Advisory Council, and will receive the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 2016 Distinguished Peace Leadership Award in Santa Barbara on October 23.

Click here to visit the site.

This Month in Nuclear Threat History

History chronicles many instances when humans have been threatened by nuclear weapons. In this article, Jeffrey Mason outlines some of the most serious threats that have taken place in the month of July, including the July 28, 1957 incident in which two Mark V hydrogen bombs on board a U.S. Air Force plane were intentionally dropped in the Atlantic Ocean 50-75 miles off the coast of Atlantic City, never to be recovered. The plane was experiencing mechanical trouble and had to shed weight in order not to crash.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

For more information on the history of the Nuclear Age, visit NAPF’s Nuclear Files website.

The Employment Implications of Canceling Trident Replacement

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has published a new report about the employment implications if the United Kingdom decides not to replace its Trident nuclear weapons system. The report, written by economist Michael Burke, reveals the significant potential for industrial development and jobs creation in the UK if the £205 billion planned for Trident is invested elsewhere in the economy.

The report states: “It is also argued that the current [nuclear weapons] system and its replacement provide civilian jobs, some of them highly-skilled and well paid, many in deprived areas where alternative employment of the same quality is scarce. While this is true, the extent of this job creation is tiny relative to the sums involved. In effect, they are among the most costly jobs in history.”

To read the full report, click here.

Nuclear Heartland: A Guide to the 450 Land-Based Missiles of the United States

Buried beneath the “Land of the Free” are 450 land-based nuclear missiles that hold American democracy and the future of humanity hostage. Hidden from the public eye, the dangers of the Nuclear Age are eclipsed by a perception of safety – ushered into the American consciousness by a small group of beneficiaries. Twenty-seven years after its initial release, Nukewatch’s Nuclear Heartland, revised edition, serves as a chilling reminder that hundreds of indiscriminate weapons still lurk beneath the surface of American soil. These “metal gods” wait patiently out of sight for a signal that would plunge our world into a state of total destruction.

To read the full book review by NAPF summer intern Ricky Frawley, click here.

NAPF 2015 Annual Report Now Available

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 2015 Annual Report is now available online. The report includes an interview with 2015 summer intern McKenna Jacquemet, a recent graduate of Hendrix College, who talks about how her experience at NAPF has helped to shape her future. The report also summarizes NAPF’s advocacy and outreach programs, including the Peace Leadership Program, public events, and our work at the United Nations and the International Court of Justice.

To download a copy of the report, click here.

Paul K. Chappell to Speak on Ethical Realities of War at Chautauqua Institution

Paul K. Chappell, NAPF Peace Leadership Director and West Point graduate who served as a captain in Iraq, has been invited by the Chautauqua Institution to be the final speaker for their week-long summer series on “The Ethical Realities of War.” This closing lecture will take place in Chautauqua, New York, on the afternoon of August 19, 2016 in the Hall of Philosophy, an outdoor venue that can seat up to 1,400 people.

To read more about this prestigious event, click here.

Noam Chomsky to Receive NAPF Distinguished Peace Leadership Award

Noam Chomsky, one of the greatest minds of our time, will be our Distinguished Peace Leadership honoree at this year’s Evening for Peace on Sunday, October 23, in Santa Barbara, California.

We’re calling the evening NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH because that’s what Chomsky is about– truth. He believes humanity faces two major challenges: the continued threat of nuclear war and the crisis of ecological catastrophe. To hear him on these issues will be highly memorable. Importantly, he offers a way forward to a more hopeful and just world. We are very proud to honor him with our award.

The annual Evening for Peace includes a festive reception, live entertainment, dinner and an award ceremony. It is attended by many Santa Barbara leaders and includes a large contingent of sponsored students.

For more information and tickets, click here.

Sadako Peace Day on August 9

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation will host its 22nd Annual Sadako Peace Day commemoration on Tuesday, August 9 at 6:00 pm at La Casa de Maria in Santa Barbara, California. The event, featuring music, poetry and reflection, remembers the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and all innocent victims of war.

Sadako Sasaki was a two-year-old girl living in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the morning the atomic bomb was dropped. Ten years later, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Japanese legend holds that one’s wish will be granted upon folding 1,000 paper (origami) cranes. Sadako set out to fold those 1,000 cranes, writing, “I will write peace on your wings, and you will fly all over the world.”

Students in Japan were so moved by her story, they began folding cranes, too. Today the paper crane is a symbol of peace. A statue of Sadako now stands in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. And to this day, we honor Sadako’s fervent wish for a peaceful world. For more information, click here.

Take Action: The Olympics Are for Peace

In support of the mayor and people of Hiroshima, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has initiated a petition to Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, asking him to allow a minute of silence at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The opening ceremony will be at 8:00 pm on August 5. In Japan, it will be 8:00 am on the 6th. At 8:15 am on the 6th, the people of Hiroshima will observe one minute’s silence in memory of the victims of the atomic bomb that exploded over their city that day and at that time, 71 years ago, killing 70,000 people immediately and 140,000 by the end of 1945.

Over 2,200 people from 41 different countries have already signed the petition. To add your name, click here.

“Hope for the Earth lies not with leaders, but in your own heart and soul. If you decide to save the Earth, it will be saved. Each person can be as powerful as the most powerful person who ever lived–and that is you, if you love this planet.”

— Dr. Helen Caldicott. This quote appears in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, which is available for purchase in the NAPF Peace Store.

“President Obama ought to shed the straitjacket of the Washington national security playbook and implement both reforms. Taking the nuclear first-use and quick-launch options off the table would be controversial, but he would have reason and morality on his side.”

— Bruce Blair, in a June 22 article in Politico Magazine.

“How do we know what’s inside those launchers? All one needs to do is reprogram [the system], which is an absolutely inconspicuous task.”

— Russian President Vladimir Putin, explaining the danger and suspicion that he feels toward the United States’ recently deployed ballistic missile defense installation in Romania.

“We are groups of fasters who have decided to forego nourishment for at least 4 days, from August 6th, the anniversary of Hiroshima, till August 9th, the anniversary of Nagasaki, to express our total opposition to nuclear weapons, and to call for their complete abolition.”

— Part of the call from an international group of activists who will be fasting from August 6-9. For more information and to join them, click here.

Madeline Atchison
Will Brown
Ricky Frawley
Erika Ito
David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

Message to the Wall

by David Krieger

Dear Wall,
Your polished surface deceives.
You appear serene, yet you are bursting with anguish and lost potential.
You are a wall of great sadness.
You remember the young, whose lives were engulfed in the flames of war.
They wanted to live and love, but the cruel war stopped them.
They had lives before the lies of their leaders took them to war.

To read more, click here.

Obama on Nukes: All Talk, No Action

by Setsuko Thurlow

As a 13-year-old schoolgirl, I witnessed my hometown flattened by a hurricane-like blast, burned in 7,000-degree Fahrenheit heat and contaminated by the radiation of one atomic bomb.

Miraculously, I was rescued from the rubble of a building, a little more than a mile from ground zero. Most of my classmates in the same room were burned to death. I can still hear their faint voices, calling their mothers for help, and praying to God.

As I escaped with two other girls, we watched a procession of ghostly figures: grotesquely wounded people whose clothes were tattered or gone. Parts of their bodies were missing. Some were carrying their eyeballs in their hands. Some had their stomachs burst open, their intestines hanging out.

To read the full op-ed in the New York Daily News, click here.

Speech in Hiroshima

by President Barack Obama

Seventy-one years ago, on a bright, cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed. A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself.

Why do we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder a terrible force unleashed in a not so distant past. We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women and children; thousands of Koreans; a dozen Americans held prisoner. Their souls speak to us. They ask us to look inward, to take stock of who we are and what we might become.

To read the full speech, click here.

Non-Nuclear Nations Discuss Nuclear Arms Ban

In May, representatives from more than 60 countries and many civil society organizations met at the United Nations in Geneva to discuss effective legal measures to eliminate all nuclear weapons. Toshiki Fujimori, representative of a Japanese organization of atomic bomb survivors, was one of many speakers at the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG). Fujimori called on member states to conclude a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons, referring to the weapons as “the devil that could eradicate all life on Earth and destroy the planet.”

Because all nine nuclear-armed nations refused to join the talks, the states that were present at the OEWG decided they have to move forward towards negotiating a legal ban without the participation of the nuclear nine.  Mexico, Brazil and other countries say they want to start negotiations in the next year on legally banning the weapons, while Japan, Germany and Canada (states under the U.S. nuclear umbrella) favor an approach that aims to promote step-by-step reductions in nuclear arsenals with cooperation from nuclear-armed nations.

For full coverage of the Open Ended Working Group, visit the Reaching Critical Will website.

“UN Working Group Discusses Nuclear Arms Ban,” NHK World, May 10, 2016.

U.S. Missile Shield Stirs Up Tensions

The United States’ European missile defense shield went live on May 12, almost a decade after Washington’s initial proposal to protect NATO states from Iran’s alleged increasing nuclear capacity. Russia is strongly opposed to the missile defense system, asserting that Iran’s missile program poses no threat to NATO states in Europe. Russia calls the U.S. program a violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that directly threatens its national security.

The U.S. stresses that the missile defense shield’s stated aim is not to advance strategic positioning in the case of a Russia-U.S. war, but rather to protect North America and Europe from “rogue states,” such as Iran and North Korea. Russia claims that the real motive behind the missile shield is to neutralize Moscow’s nuclear arsenal long enough for the U.S. to make a first strike on Russia in the event of war. The U.S. dismisses Russia’s view as “strategic paranoia” and blames Moscow for breaking off talks with NATO in 2013.

Robin Emmott, “U.S. to Switch on European Missile Shield Despite Russian Alarm,” Reuters, May 11, 2016.

China Plans Nuclear Submarines

The Chinese military plans to send submarines armed with nuclear missiles into the South China Sea in response to the U.S. military’s expanding presence in the Pacific region. Specifically, the Chinese military worries about the U.S. THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, as well as the U.S. Prompt Global Strike Program, programmed with a hypersonic glide missile capable of hitting targets anywhere in the world within an hour.

Until now, China has been cautious with its nuclear strategy, stating that it would never be the first to use nuclear weapons, and storing warheads and missiles separately. While China has been developing nuclear submarine technology for decades, this is the first time it will deploy nuclear missiles at sea.

Julian Borger, “China to Send Nuclear-Armed Submarines Into Pacific Amid Tensions with U.S.,” The Guardian, May 26, 2016.

Pakistan Seeks Nuclear Suppliers Group Membership

Pakistan formally applied for entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), after China blocked India’s entry into the 48-member elite group. Pakistan reported that its decision to seek participation reflects Pakistan’s support for international efforts to prevent the proliferation weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

Pakistan’s request for entry comes about only weeks after China contested India’s NSG membership for India’s refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Pakistan, which has also refused to sign the NPT, stresses the need for NSG to adopt a non-discriminatory criteria-based approach for NSG membership. Pakistan claims that it will act in accordance with NSG guidelines to transfer nuclear material, equipment and related technology despite not having signed the NPT.

“Pakistan Applies for NSG Membership,” The Times of India, May 20, 2016.

Complaints of Vapor Exposure Resurface at Hanford Site

The Department of Energy (DOE) claims it has been laboring to reduce vapor risks at Hanford site, but Hanford workers suggest otherwise. Over the past month, over 40 workers at the decommissioned nuclear production complex have complained of exposure to noxious chemical vapors. The complaints have emerged amidst the completion of a project at Hanford, focused on emptying a leaking 740,000-gallon underground tank. Some estimates suggest that hundreds of Hanford workers have been affected over time, their symptoms ranging from headaches to cancer.

In September, a Seattle-based environmental and worker advocacy group, Hanford Challenge, united with Local Union 598 to sue the heavily-contaminated nuclear complex. Despite the legal resurgence of vapor exposure complaints—grievances that date back to the 1990s—DOE continues to dispute all charges.

The workers list the following demands: the timely fulfillment of recommendations made in a recent tank-farm contractor report, continued medical oversight of both past and present workers, and complete public release of all information relevant to vapor exposure. A non-jury trial seeking improved protection of Hanford workers is scheduled to convene on May 22, 2017.

John Emshwiller, “New Complaints of Exposures Emerge at Hanford Site,” The Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2016.

Settlement Reached in Rocky Flats Homeowners Lawsuit

A $375 million settlement was finally reached in May between Denver-area residents and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Residents near Rocky Flats claimed that a local nuclear weapons production plant released harmful plutonium, devaluing property and damaging health. The settlement, if approved by a federal judge, will end a 26-year lawsuit between homeowners and Dow Chemical Co. and Rockwell International Corp., two corporations responsible for operating the plant for the DOE.

The lawsuit was filed in 1990, a year after the plant closed due to concerns of safety and environmental impacts, and took years to go to trial. In 2006, a judge ordered the companies to pay $925 million to homeowners for damages to health and property, but the verdict was overturned. The $375 million settlement will address property values, but not health monitoring for affected residents.

LeRoy Moore of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center said, “I’m glad that the people in the affected area being finally compensated for loss, but neither of the corporations, Dow or Rockwell, will pay a cent. DOE will pay the bill, which really means we the taxpayers will pay for the careless and harmful operation of the Rocky Flats plant. The corporations were well-paid for the harm they did.”

John Aguilar, “$375M Settlement Reached in Homeowner Lawsuit Against Rocky Flats,” Denver Post, May 19, 2016.

Would the U.S. Drop the Bomb Again?

Studies of public opinion polling in the U.S. show that approximately the same percentage of people today would support using nuclear weapons in a hypothetical conflict with Iran as supported President Truman’s use of nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

In the hypothetical situation posed in a poll by YouGov, 59% of respondents backed using a nuclear bomb on an Iranian city, even if the expected number of Iranian civilian fatalities was two million. The authors, Scott Sagan and Benjamin Valentino, said, “Today, as in 1945, the U.S. public is unlikely to hold back a president who might consider using nuclear weapons in the crucible of war.”

Scott Sagan and Benjamin Valentino, “Would the U.S. Drop the Bomb Again?” The Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2016.

U.S. Modernization Plans Are “Very, Very, Very Expensive”

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, questioned the continued need for the United States to maintain a nuclear triad given the extraordinary costs of upgrading all of the systems. In a speech at the Brookings Institution, Sen. McCain said, “We’re sort of behind, if you look at some of the estimates as to what it would take to update the triad would it be long range bomber, or missiles, or new submarines, it’s very, very, very expensive. I mean, you look at the cost of this new submarine they want, it’s extremely high. You look at the long-range bomber, we’re looking at tens of billions of dollars, and so we’re going to have to grapple with this. Do we really need the entire triad, given the situation? How do we dispose of this nuclear material in a way that’s not costing us 20 or 30 billion dollars?”

“New Demands on the Military and the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act,” Brookings Institution, May 19, 2016.

Universities Seek to Manage Sandia Nuclear Weapons Labs

As the United States embarks on the beginning phases of its planned $1 trillion, 30-year program to upgrade its nuclear weapons, delivery systems and production facilities, Sandia National Laboratories is accepting bids for new management. Sandia has been managed by Lockheed Martin since 1993, but the contract expires in April 2017.

Multiple entities are bidding for the management contract, including a consortium called Together Sandia, which includes the Texas A&M University System, the University of Texas System, and the University of New Mexico.

The University of California has managed Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) since their inception in 1943 and 1952, respectively. Over the past decade, the University of California has been part of for-profit private limited liability companies that manage LANL and LLNL.

Mark Rockwell, “Sandia Labs Management Contract Officially Up for Grabs,” FCW, May 27, 2016.

Update on the Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuits

Rick Wayman, Director of Programs at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, recently spoke with Libbe HaLevy, host of the podcast Nuclear Hotseat, about the Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuits at the International Court of Justice and U.S. Federal Court. He updated listeners on the content of the cases against the United Kingdom, India and Pakistan that are currently before the International Court of Justice, as well as the case against the United States that is pending at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

They also discussed President Obama’s recent trip to Hiroshima and the image vs. reality of U.S. nuclear weapons policy, and the Don’t Bank on the Bomb report that details the companies and financial institutions involved in the production of nuclear weapons.

Libbe HaLevy, “Nuclear Hotseat #258,” Nuclear Hotseat Podcast, May 31, 2016.

June’s Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog is Defusing the Nuclear Threat by Martin Hellman. Dr. Hellman is Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and a NAPF Associate. The blog addresses numerous current nuclear threats with ideas of how to reduce or eliminate the risk. Recent entries include the first nine chapters of a book written by Martin and Dorothie Hellman entitled “A New Map for Relationships: Creating True Love at Home and Peace on the Planet.”

To read the blog, click here.

This Month in Nuclear Threat History

History chronicles many instances when humans have been threatened by nuclear weapons. In this article, Jeffrey Mason outlines some of the most serious threats that have taken place in the month of June, including the first known nuclear weapons-related accident on June 23, 1942 in Leipzig, Germany.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

For more information on the history of the Nuclear Age, visit NAPF’s Nuclear Files website.

Lee Butler Publishes Memoirs

General Lee Butler, a four-star U.S. Air Force General and the commander of U.S. nuclear forces from 1991-94, has published a two-volume memoir entitled “Uncommon Cause: A Life at Odds with Convention.” After leaving the Air Force, Butler became an outspoken advocate for nuclear disarmament.

Gen. Butler has generously provided an e-book version of his memoirs as a free download for readers of NAPF’s Sunflower Newsletter. Click here to access the memoirs.

Russian Nuclear Forces

Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris have published an updated analysis of Russia’s nuclear forces in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The authors state, “Russia is in the middle of a broad modernization of its strategic and nonstrategic nuclear forces…. The modernization program reflects the government’s conviction that strategic nuclear forces are indispensable for Russia’s security and status as a great power.”

To read the full report, click here.

Letters to the Editor in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times

On May 31, NAPF President David Krieger had a letter to the editor published in The New York Times. Dr. Krieger wrote about the differences in how Americans and Japanese view nuclear weapons. He wrote in part, “The view from above the bomb leads to reliance on nuclear weapons and ultimately to an evolutionary dead-end for our species, while the view from beneath the bomb engages our moral decency and leads to abolishing these devices of mass annihilation and preserving the planet for future generations.”

On May 13, NAPF Director of Programs Rick Wayman had a letter to the editor published in the Los Angeles Times. He wrote in part, “There exists an international legal obligation to pursue — and bring to a conclusion — negotiations on nuclear disarmament. President Obama should dedicate the final months of his presidency to fulfilling this long-delayed obligation. That would be a legacy worth creating.”

To read both letters, click here.

Refugees and Peace Literacy

When Paul K. Chappell, NAPF Peace Leadership Director, spoke about Peace Literacy in mid-May to over 400 students at the International Youth Conference for the Christian Community in Hamburg, Germany, he also addressed a number of young refugees from the Greater Middle East. Some of them spoke English, had been in Germany for a number of months, and they said they were hopeful for the future. They had survived traumatic experiences and while they were hopeful, they knew their future was not guaranteed.

Chappell has often talked about the “muscle” of hope, and how realistic hope can survive enormous suffering even when trust has been betrayed. Unlike naïve hope which is the result of helplessness, realistic hope grows from the trust we have in ourselves, others, and our ideals. Participation in creating progress is a higher expression of hope.

To read more, click here.

Noam Chomsky to Receive NAPF Distinguished Peace Leadership Award

Noam Chomsky, one of the greatest minds of our time, will be our Distinguished Peace Leader at this year’s Evening for Peace on Sunday, October 23, in Santa Barbara, California.

We’re calling the evening NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH because that’s what Chomsky is about– truth. He believes humanity faces two major challenges: the continued threat of nuclear war and the crisis of ecological catastrophe. To hear him on these issues will be more than memorable. Importantly, he offers a way forward to a more hopeful and just world. We are very proud to honor him with our award.

The annual Evening for Peace includes a festive reception, live entertainment, dinner and an awards ceremony. It is attended by many residents of Santa Barbara, peace activists, those interested in our work, local businesses and philanthropists.

For more information and tickets, click here.

Report to the UN Secretary-General

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation submitted a report to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It will make up a portion of the “Report of the Secretary-General to the 71st Session of the General Assembly on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the 2002 UN Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education.”

NAPF’s report outlines its numerous disarmament education activities that have taken place from July 2014 to June 2016. To read the report, click here.

“We must learn the lessons of history, that we may learn to identify and avoid the paths that lead to war.”

— Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This quote appears in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, which is available for purchase in the NAPF Peace Store.

“If you sow a mango seed, you get a mango tree. If you sow maize, you get maize. No exception to this simple law has ever occurred or ever will. By the same token, if you sow the seed of contention, violence and hatred, the harvest will be more violence and more hatred. Society can only change by first changing the attitude of people who live in it and the world can only change by changing the attitude of the nations who constitute it.”

— Sir James R. Mancham, KBE, former President of Seychelles.

“I have lost my island, my ocean, my culture. I have lost everything about me. Can Obama come and see me? I am like a coconut floating adrift in the ocean with no set course.”

— Nerje Joseph, a survivor of the March 1, 1954 Castle Bravo nuclear test. That test, at 1,000 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, was the largest ever exploded by the United States and displaced many people in the Marshall Islands.

“The world has moved on since nuclear subs were first designed and procured — politically, economically and technologically — and it’s time for our politicians to catch up.”

— Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, commenting on a new report showing that the cost of replacing Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons system, has risen to 205 billion GBP ($295 billion USD).

Lindsay Apperson
Ricky Frawley
Alexis Hill
Erika Ito
David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

Message to Youth

by David Krieger

You are not required
to kill on command, to wear
a uniform, to camouflage yourself,
to place medals on your chest, to check
your conscience at the door, to march
in unison, to bear the burden of the body count.

You are not required
to pledge allegiance to the flag, to sing
patriotic songs, to distort history,
to believe lies, to support leaders when
they are wrong, to turn a blind eye
to violence, or to be cheerleaders for war.

You are required
to love, to live with compassion, to be kinder
than necessary and to seek the truth
in the time allotted to you.

To read this poem on the NAPF website, click here.

On Balance and Choices

by Mia Gandenberger and Ray Acheson

All NPT states parties are legally obligated to participate in activities to eliminate nuclear weapons. They cannot simply choose that a benefit of their possession or reliance on nuclear weapons is that they do not have to act with the same due diligence in accordance with the law as any other state. There is no balance between compliance and non-compliance. If this argument were to be made in another context, it would never be accepted by these states that claim it for themselves when it comes nuclear weapons.

The nuclear-armed states are not even here. They do not even want to have a conversation with the rest of us about what to do. There is only one choice at this point in time when the nuclear-armed states are refusing to even engage let alone comply with their legal obligation to pursue effective measures for nuclear disarmament. Our only choice is to pursue an effective measure without them—to negotiate a treaty that can impact our own engagement with and relationship to nuclear weapons—financially, politically, socially, legally, morally, and ethically.

To read more, click here.

Comments on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park

by Ralph Hutchison

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park project presents complicated challenges to the interpreter. On the one hand, it commemorates a truly stunning achievement of human endeavor—scientific and technical, yes, but also engineering and building, social and cultural. It is rooted, at least in part, in a war effort that almost the entire culture embraced as noble. It’s a story of sacrifice and determination mostly by people who had no idea what they were engaged in.

But like most history that warrants preservation, it is also a story that transcends the time and place in which it took place. The Manhattan Project changed the world; the creation of the world’s first atomic weapon which was then used to create incomprehensible human suffering, and which led to the devotion of many trillions of dollars to an arms race which is still with us today, reverberating in headlines daily as other nations consider or embark on their own quest to do what we have done.

To read more, click here.

China Is Upgrading Nuclear Missiles with Multiple Warheads

On Jan. 22, 2016, Admiral Cecil D. Haney, head of U.S. Strategic Command, confirmed that China is “re-engineering its long-range ballistic missiles to carry multiple nuclear warheads.” According to U.S. intelligence, China has been replacing single-warhead intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with multiple, independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs), for the past few months.

The former Chinese ICBMs had only one single warhead on top of each missile. The new MIRVs are armed with between three and eight warheads, according to intelligence sources, allowing single missiles to hit a multitude of targets at once. This makes the missiles increasingly difficult to knock out with anti-missile technology. According to Rick Fisher, a China military analyst, “This, combined with China’s aggressive development of missile defenses, space warfare capabilities, and possible non-nuclear prompt global strike missiles, will quickly undermine confidence by U.S. allies in the extended U.S. nuclear deterrent.”

Additionally, a new report by Gregory Kulacki of the Union of Concerned Scientists claims that China’s military wants to put its relatively small nuclear arsenal on hair-trigger alert for the first time. This would be a radical departure from China’s longtime nuclear policy. The U.S. and Russia continue to maintain hundreds of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert.

Franz-Stefan Gady, “Confirmed: China Is Upgrading ICBMs with Multiple Warheads,” The Diplomat, February 15, 2016.

Open-Ended Working Group Begins in Geneva

The open-ended working group (OEWG) on taking forward multilateral disarmament negotiations, established by a UN General Assembly resolution in 2015, began in Geneva in February. The mandate of the OEWG is to substantively address concrete effective legal measures, legal provisions and norms that will need to be concluded to attain and maintain a world without nuclear weapons.

All nine of the world’s nuclear-armed nations (United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea) refused to participate in the OEWG.

The second session of the OEWG will take place in Geneva from May 2-13. For a summary of the OEWG and many source documents presented thus far, click here to visit Reaching Critical Will.

“Open-Ended Working Group Taking Forward Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Negotiations,” United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, February 23, 2016.

U.S. Nuclear Workers Discarded Nuclear Secrets in Unclassified Trash

In June 2014, workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex found documents containing classified U.S. nuclear secrets in dozens of bags meant to be tossed out as typical trash. Upon further investigation by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), officials determined that Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Y-12, LLC, the contractor responsible for running the site at the time, had been improperly disposing of nuclear secrets in a way that compromised national security for more than 20 years.

Almost two years later, the NNSA informed David J. Richardson, president of Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services, Y-12, LLC, that the NNSA would be citing his company for violations including failure to appropriately label classified information, failure to protect and control classified information, and insufficient assessment of its own performance. Despite actions that haphazardly left crucial national defense secrets vulnerable to theft for years, the NNSA decided not to fine the former Y-12 contractor nor impose any substantial civil penalty.

Patrick Malone, “Workers Threw Out U.S. Nuclear Secrets With Common Rubbish for 20 Years,” The Center for Public Integrity, February 3, 2016.

North Korea Launches Long-Range Rocket

On February 7, North Korea (DPRK) launched a satellite into space, claiming that the launch was for scientific and peaceful purposes. Other nations, including South Korea and the United States, believe that the launch was actually a front for a ballistic missile test.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, “This is the second time in just over a month that the DPRK has chosen to conduct a major provocation, threatening not only the security of the Korean peninsula, but that of the region and the United States as well.”

During the 1950s, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles were used by the United States and the Soviet Union both as delivery vehicles for nuclear warheads and for the development of space programs.

Ralph Ellis, K.J. Kwon and Tiffany Ap, “U.S., Other Nations Condemn North Korean Launch of Long-Range Rocket,” CNN, February 7, 2016.

U.S. Launches Two Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

The U.S. launched Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles from Vandenberg Air Force Base on February 20 and 25. The missiles flew over 4,200 miles to a target in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Col. Craig Ramsey, commander of the 576th Flight Test Squadron, said, “Perhaps most importantly, this visible message of national security serves to assure our partners and dissuade potential aggressors.” Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said, “We and the Russians and the Chinese routinely do test shots to prove that the operational missiles that we have are reliable. And that is a signal…that we are prepared to use nuclear weapons in defense of our country if necessary.”

NAPF President David Krieger responded, “These comments have the quality of those of a character in Alice in Wonderland; that is, our nuclear-capable missiles have only the best of purposes, despite the fact that they are part of an illegal, immoral and insane weapon system that could result in the total destruction of the U.S. and civilization.”

“Minot Tests Minuteman III with Launch from Vandenberg AFB,” Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs, February 22, 2016.

French President Recognizes Effects of Nuclear Tests

French President Francois Hollande has acknowledged that the 193 nuclear tests conducted by France in French Polynesia had serious consequences. Mr. Hollande said, “I recognize that the nuclear tests conducted between 1966 and 1996 in French Polynesia had an environmental impact, and caused health consequences.” In a cold change of tone, Hollande then said that without its overseas territories like French Polynesia, “France would not now have nuclear weapons and the power of [nuclear deterrence].”

President Hollande also announced a review of the application process for compensation of testing victims. Approximately 20 people have received compensation from France, out of over 1,000 applicants, for cancers caused by nuclear testing.

“Hollande Acknowledges ‘Consequences’ of Nuclear Tests on Polynesia Trip,” France 24, February 23, 2016.

Obama Administration Blames Russia for $1 Trillion U.S. Nuclear Modernization Plan

There has recently been a noticeable change in the public justifications presented by the Obama administration for its plan to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal at a cost of $1 trillion over the next 30 years. Previously, the administration insisted that the plan did not represent a return to an arms race or rivalry with Russia. In fact, in 2015, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that “the Cold War playbook…is not suitable for the 21st century.”

However, in recent months, Russia has become the after-the-fact public justification for the massive nuclear modernization plan. In the Obama administration’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget, the administration states, “We are countering Russia’s aggressive policies through investments in a broad range of capabilities…[including] our nuclear arsenal.” In testimony before Congress, Obama administration official Brian McKeon said, “We are investing in the technologies that are most relevant to Russia’s provocations…to both deter nuclear attacks and reassure our allies.”

Alex Emmons, “Obama’s Russian Rationale for $1 Trillion Nuke Plan Signals New Arms Race,” The Intercept, February 23, 2016.

Rep. Blumenauer Speaks Out Against Nuclear Modernization

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) delivered a floor speech in the House of Representatives on February 25 criticizing the Obama administration’s plans to spend billions of dollars on modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal in fiscal year 2017.

Blumenauer said, “There are billions of dollars for the controversial modernization of each leg of the nuclear triad—the land-based missiles, submarine-based missiles and bombers—which have not been used in 65 years, have been unable to help us with the military challenges that we face now in the Middle East, and are going to consume huge sums of money in this hopelessly redundant program.”

“Rep. Blumenauer Floor Speech on Excessive Nuclear Modernization Spending,” C-SPAN, February 25, 2016.

Oral Arguments at the International Court of Justice Begin March 7

Oral arguments in the Marshall Islands’ lawsuits against the United Kingdom, India and Pakistan will begin at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on March 7 and conclude on March 16. These hearings will be on preliminary objections raised by the respondent countries. Rick Wayman, NAPF’s Director of Programs, will attend the hearings. Click here to sign up to receive Rick’s daily email update and analysis of what is happening in The Hague.

International Peace Bureau Secretary General Comments on Nobel Prize Nomination

Colin Archer, Secretary General of the International Peace Bureau, recently did a radio interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation about IPB’s nomination of Tony de Brum and the legal team representing the Marshall Islands in the lawsuits against the world’s nine nuclear-armed nations.

Mr. Archer said, “[The Marshall Islands] could have concentrated on their own situation. But I think they had a bigger vision, and it’s to their credit that they decided to take this case to the International Court of Justice and also to the U.S. Federal District Court. We think it’s the most promising international effort and it does put the spotlight on the legal aspect, because it’s not possible to use these weapons in any legal way.”

Richard Ewart, “Nobel Peace Prize Nomination for Former Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony de Brum,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, February 7, 2016.

March’s Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog is Watchblog from Nuclear Watch New Mexico. Blog topics primarily focus around nuclear weapons-related research and production taking place at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Some articles focus on broader issues of U.S. nuclear weapons modernization and the environmental impact of nuclear weapons production.

Recent titles include “Los Alamos Lab Would Get $2.1 Billion in Proposed Budget; Officials Discuss Plans for Making Plutonium Pits,” “Watchdogs Call for Renewed Investigation of Corruption at Los Alamos Lab,” and “Nuclear Watch NM Gives Notice of Intent to Sue Over Lack of Cleanup at the Los Alamos Lab.”

This Month in Nuclear Threat History

History chronicles many instances when humans have been threatened by nuclear weapons. In this article, Jeffrey Mason outlines some of the most serious threats that have taken place in the month of March, including the March 14, 1961 incident in which a U.S. B-52F-70 BW Stratofortress carrying two Mark-39 hydrogen bombs crashed near Yuba City, California, tearing the nuclear weapons from the plane on impact.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

For more information on the history of the Nuclear Age, visit NAPF’s Nuclear Files website.

Why an Emergency Response to a Nuclear Attack Is Impossible

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) has published a short presentation in video format about the emergency response to a nuclear attack. The four-minute video describes in simple, stark words and images the overwhelming obstacles that would confront doctors and first responders following a nuclear attack.

To watch the video, click here.

Dr. Ira Helfand of IPPNW recently gave a TEDx talk entitled “Can We Prevent Nuclear War?” Click here to watch this nine-minute video.

The Future of the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal

The Center for American Progress has launched a new website that highlights the high cost of the Obama administration’s plans to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The Obama administration’s plan would replace nearly every missile, submarine, aircraft and warhead in the force, driving the cost of modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal to $1 trillion over 30 years.

This website allows visitors to explore the Obama administration’s plan and the alternative plan proposed by the Center for American Progress. It also has tools that allow visitors to create their own plan for modernization.

Click here to visit the site.

Declassified: U.S. Nuclear Weapons at Sea

Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris have published a new report analyzing newly declassified documents from the United States about the number of nuclear weapons it deployed at sea during the Cold War.

The declassified documents show that the United States during much of the 1970s and the 1980s deployed about a quarter of its entire nuclear weapons stockpile at sea. The all-time high was in 1975 when 6,191 weapons were afloat, but even in 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, there were 5,716 weapons at sea. That’s more nuclear weapons than the size of the entire U.S. nuclear stockpile today.

To read the full report, click here.

Poetry and Video Contests Now Accepting Entries

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s annual poetry and video contests are currently accepting entries. The 2016 Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest invites contestants to submit videos of up to three minutes on nuclear weapons modernization – specifically, why we should “humanize, not modernize.” Entries must be submitted by April 1, 2016.

The 2016 Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards encourage poets to explore and illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit. Entries must be postmarked by April 30, 2016.

More information, including submission instructions, for both contests is available online at www.peacecontests.org.

Peace Literacy Curriculum

One month ago NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell published his essay on “Why Our World Needs Peace Literacy.” His next step is the development of the NAPF Peace Literacy curriculum.

Paul Chappell will introduce the new NAPF Peace Literacy curriculum at a one day workshop for educators on June 8, 2016, at the International Conference on Conflict Resolution Education (ICCRE) at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.  His co-presenter will be Dayton International Peace Museum Board Member Katherine Rowell, who is Professor of Sociology at Sinclair Community College, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, and received the 2005 Outstanding Community College Professor of the Year award from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

To read more about this exciting new development, click here.

NAPF Welcomes Elena Nicklasson as New Director of Development

Elena Nicklasson has joined the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation as the new Director of Development. Ms. Nicklasson comes to the Foundation with a background in International Policy Studies in Non-Proliferation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA. She has served as a consultant for the World Bank sponsored projects in Russia, and developed organizational policies for the International Institute for Promoting Innovative Development. Prior to coming to Santa Barbara, Elena was a development consultant at the Global Fund for Women in San Francisco and Development Manager at On Lok Lifeways, also in San Francisco.

Robert Scheer Delivers Lecture on War, Peace, Truth and the Media

On February 18, Robert Scheer delivered the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 15th Annual Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future. Mr. Scheer is one of the nation’s most outspoken and progressive journalists, Professor of Communications at the University of Southern California, and Editor-In-Chief of truthdig.com.

Video of the lecture will be available in mid-March. Click here for more information on the Kelly Lecture series and to read about Robert Scheer’s 2016 lecture, including NAPF President David Krieger’s opening remarks.

“The first day we pointed to our countries. The third day, we pointed to our continents. By the fifth day, we were aware of only one Earth.”

— Sultan bin Salman Al-Saud, Saudi Astronaut. This quote is featured in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available for purchase in the NAPF Peace Store.

“Even the most hawkish among us must acknowledge that modernizing everything nuclear in sight does not really send the kind of international signals that will make America secure. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty regime is now foundering, in substantial part because of this policy. The U.S. and other nuclear weapon states have not kept their end of the bargain.”

— Greg Mello, Executive Director of the Los Alamos Study Group, in a February 26 op-ed in the Albuquerque Journal.

“The UK boycott of the Geneva talks [the open-ended working group] begs fundamental questions. Since David Cameron’s government is hell bent on going ahead with Trident replacement and is also refusing to participate in multilateral UN talks on nuclear disarmament, what are we doing to comply with our non-proliferation and disarmament obligations? Why should anyone take Britain seriously when this government is wasting billions on an outdated weapon system that most countries are determined to prohibit?”

— Rebecca Johnson, Executive Director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, in a February 26 op-ed in Open Democracy.

Lindsay Apperson
David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

North Korea: How Many Wake-Up Calls Will It Take?

by David Krieger

North Korea has been sounding alarms since it withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003.  Its latest wake-up call in early 2016 was its fourth nuclear test.  This time it claimed to have tested a far more powerful thermonuclear weapon, although seismic reports do not seem to bear this out.

North Korea has been roundly condemned for its nuclear tests, including this one.  To put this in perspective, however, the U.S. has conducted more than 1,000 nuclear tests, continues to conduct subcritical nuclear tests, has not ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, is in breach of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, regularly tests nuclear-capable missiles, and plans to spend $1 trillion modernizing its nuclear arsenal.  The U.S. and the other nuclear-armed countries are quick to point fingers at North Korea, but slow to recognize their own role in fanning the flames of nuclear catastrophe.

If we are not awakened by North Korea’s latest test, what will it take?  What other, louder alarm is necessary for the world to come together and work toward achieving nuclear zero before nuclear weapons are used again and we all become victims of a war from which humanity will never awaken?

To read more, click here.

Political Responsibility in the Nuclear Age: An Open Letter to the American People

by Richard Falk, David Krieger and Robert Laney

Dear fellow citizens:

By their purported test of a hydrogen bomb early in 2016, North Korea reminded the world that nuclear dangers are not an abstraction, but a continuing menace that the governments and peoples of the world ignore at their peril.  Even if the test were not of a hydrogen bomb but of a smaller atomic weapon, as many experts suggest, we are still reminded that we live in the Nuclear Age, an age in which accident, miscalculation, insanity or intention could lead to devastating nuclear catastrophe.

What is most notable about the Nuclear Age is that we humans, by our scientific and technological ingenuity, have created the means of our own demise.  The world currently is confronted by many threats to human wellbeing, and even civilizational survival, but we focus here on the particular grave dangers posed by nuclear weapons and nuclear war.

To read more, click here.

Why Our World Needs Peace Literacy

by Paul K. Chappell

Imagine if there were a high school in America today with a zero percent literacy rate, a high school where none of the students or teachers know how to read. Would this high school get national media attention? Actually, it would probably get international media attention, because today we recognize that literacy is the foundation of education, and we have constructed our society around literacy.

What if all of us in the twenty-first century are living in a preliterate society and we don’t even realize it? We are not preliterate in reading, but in something else. What if we are living in a society that is preliterate in peace, and a major reason why we have so many national problems, global problems, and even personal and family problems is because our society is preliterate in peace. Just as literacy in reading gives us access to new kinds of information such as history, science, and complex math, literacy in peace also gives us access to new kinds of information such as solutions to our national and global problems, along with solutions to many of our personal and family problems.

To read more, click here.

Israel Receives Fifth Nuclear-Capable Submarine from Germany

Israel has received a fifth Dolphin-class submarine produced by Germany. According to a 2012 report in Der Spiegel, the German-made submarines are capable of carrying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. The submarine cost approximately $500 million to produce, with Germany providing 1/3 of the funding.

At a dedication ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is “capable of striking in very great strength at all those who would harm it.” While Israel officially does not confirm that it possesses nuclear weapons, it is well-known that it is the only nuclear-armed nation in the Middle East.

“Israel Receives Fifth Submarine with German Help,” Associated Press, January 12, 2016.

Doomsday Clock Stays at Three Minutes to Midnight

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced that it is keeping its “Doomsday Clock” at three minutes to midnight, unchanged from last year. The clock is a metaphor for how close humanity is to destroying the planet.

“Three minutes (to midnight) is too close. Far too close,” the Bulletin said in a statement. “We, the members of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, want to be clear about our decision not to move the hands of the Doomsday Clock in 2016: That decision is not good news, but an expression of dismay that world leaders continue to fail to focus their efforts and the world’s attention on reducing the extreme danger posed by nuclear weapons and climate change.

“When we call these dangers existential, that is exactly what we mean: They threaten the very existence of civilization and therefore should be the first order of business for leaders who care about their constituents and their countries.”

Todd Leopold, “Doomsday Clock Stays at Three Minutes to Midnight,” CNN, January 26, 2016.

Setsuko Thurlow and Hibakusha Voted Arms Control Person of the Year

Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and an active campaigner for the abolition of nuclear weapons, together with the hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been named the “Arms Control Person of the Year” by the Washington, DC-based Arms Control Association.

Setsuko Thurlow and the hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nominated for their unyielding dedication to sharing first-hand accounts of the catastrophic and inhumane effects of nuclear weapons, which serves to reinforce the taboo against the further use of nuclear weapons and to maintain pressure for effective action to eliminate and outlaw nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons testing.

Ms. Thurlow also received the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Distinguished Peace Leadership Award in 2015 for her leadership in the movement to abolish nuclear weapons. Click here to watch a video of that event.

“Setsuko Thurlow and the Hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Voted the Arms Control Person of the Year,” Arms Control Association, January 7, 2016.

Air Force Withheld Nuclear Mishap from Pentagon Review Team

On May 17, 2014, three Air Force airmen were troubleshooting a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) in a silo in Colorado. A “mishap” occurred, causing $1.8 million in damage to the nuclear-armed missile. At the same time that the mishap occurred, a Pentagon team appointed by then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was reviewing the many problems with the U.S. nuclear force.

The Air Force chose not to report this incident to the review team. The Air Force has denied an Associated Press Freedom of Information Act request for the incident report. Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists said, “By keeping the details of the accident secret and providing only vague responses, the Air Force behaves as if it has something to hide and undermines public confidence in the safety of the ICBM mission.”

Robert Burns, “Air Force Withheld Nuclear Mishap from Pentagon Review Team,” Associated Press, January 23, 2016.

North Korea Tests Nuclear Weapon, Calls for Peace Treaty

On January 6, North Korea conducted its fourth test of a nuclear weapon. While North Korea claimed that it tested a hydrogen bomb, many experts around the world doubted that claim since the explosion was approximately the same size as its third nuclear test, which was an atomic bomb.

North Korea has stated that it would halt its nuclear weapon tests if South Korea and the United States stop conducting joint military exercises, and a peace treaty is signed to conclude the 1950-53 Korean War.

Tony Munroe, Hideyuki Sano and David Brunnstrom, “North Korea Says Peace Treaty, Halt to Exercises Would End Nuclear Tests,” Reuters, January 16, 2016.

Former Officials Wary of Nuclear Modernization Plans

Many former Obama Administration officials are among the critics of the administration’s plans to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal at a cost of $1 trillion over the next 30 years. Andy Weber, former assistant secretary of defense and director of the Nuclear Weapons Council, has been a vocal critic of the administration’s plans to build a new nuclear cruise missile. Weber said, “It’s unaffordable and unneeded. The president has an opportunity to set the stage for a global ban on nuclear cruise missiles. It’s a big deal in terms of reducing the risks of nuclear war.”

Ellen Tauscher, a former undersecretary of state for arms control in the Obama Administration, expressed disappointment in the lack of nuclear arms reduction. She said, “I think there’s a universal sense of frustration. Somebody has to get serious. We’re spending billions of dollars on a status quo that doesn’t make us any safer.”

William Broad and David Sanger, “As U.S. Modernizes Nuclear Weapons, ‘Smaller’ Leaves Some Uneasy,” The New York Times, January 11, 2016.

Stratcom Chief Calls for Full Nuclear Modernization

U.S. Strategic Commander Adm. Cecil Haney called for full modernization of the nation’s nuclear triad of submarines, bombers and land-based missiles during a visit to Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, which oversees 150 of the United States’ 450 land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles. Haney said, “We must modernize the force, including the people, to ensure this force remains capable of delivering strategic stability and foundational deterrence well into the future.”

Adm. Haney also said, “All [three legs of the nuclear triad] remain essential to our national security and continue to provide a stabilizing force in the global geopolitical fabric of the world.” Haney’s comment is in stark contrast to the viewpoint of numerous high-ranking military officials, including former U.S. Strategic Commander Gen. Lee Butler. In an interview with Robert Kazel for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in 2015, Gen. Butler said, “Rather than being concerned about the moral implications of [nuclear weapons], we continue to pursue them as if they were our salvation—as opposed to the prospective engine of our utter destruction.”

Jenn Rowell, “Nuke Chief Visits Malmstrom to Outline Priorities,” Great Falls Tribune, January 14, 2016.

International Peace Bureau Nominates Tony de Brum and Nuclear Zero Legal Team for Nobel Peace Prize

The International Peace Bureau (IPB) has nominated former Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony de Brum and the legal team working on the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. IPB highlighted the courageous step of bringing legal actions against the world’s nine nuclear-armed states at the International Court of Justice, and additionally against the United States in U.S. Federal Court.

In its nomination, IPB writes, “It is certainly not the case that the RMI, with its some 53,000 inhabitants, a large proportion of whom are young people, have no need of compensation or assistance. Nowhere are the costs of a militarized Pacific better illustrated than there. The country is burdened with some of the highest cancer rates in the region following the 12 years of U.S. nuclear tests. Yet it is admirable that the Marshall Islanders in fact seek no compensation for themselves, but rather are determined to end the nuclear weapons threat for all humanity.”

Colin Archer, “International Peace Bureau Nominates de Brum and Nuclear Zero Legal Team for Nobel Peace Prize,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, January 28, 2016.

International Court of Justice Announces Dates for Oral Arguments

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague has announced that initial oral arguments in the Marshall Islands’ lawsuits against the United Kingdom, India and Pakistan will take place from March 7-16, 2016. The ICJ was founded in 1945 to rule on legal disputes between nations.

In the cases against India and Pakistan, the court will examine whether the tribunal in The Hague is “competent” to hear the lawsuits. The hearing against the United Kingdom will examine preliminary objections raised by the UK.

“Marshall Islands Sue Britain, India and Pakistan Over Nuclear Weapons,” Agence France-Presse, January 29, 2016.

February’s Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog is the Nobel Women’s Initiative. This initiative was established in 2006 by Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Maguire.

The blog covers many different topics, including human rights, refugees, peace, women’s rights, and much more. To read the blog, click here.

This Month in Nuclear Threat History

History chronicles many instances when humans have been threatened by nuclear weapons. In this article, Jeffrey Mason outlines some of the most serious threats that have taken place in the month of February, including the February 5, 1958 incident in which a B-47 bomber jettisoned a 7,600-pound Mark-15 hydrogen bomb into a Savannah River swamp off Tybee Island, Georgia after colliding with an F-86 fighter jet.  The weapon, which contained 400 pounds of conventional high explosives and highly enriched uranium, was never recovered despite an extensive two-month-long search by U.S. Navy personnel.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

For more information on the history of the Nuclear Age, visit NAPF’s Nuclear Files website.

Engaging Youth in Nuclear Abolition Work

The British American Security and Information Council (BASIC) has published a new report entitled “Reframing the Narrative on Nuclear Weapons.” The publication represents 14 months of investigation into how future nuclear weapons policy can become more relevant to the concerns and the security of the next generation. BASIC’s aim was to explore this by engaging new perspectives within the next generation of policy shapers, those with ideas unstructured by Cold War experiences, but nevertheless motivated to take action to move beyond the legacies from past generations, focused on future decisions over global policy challenges.

To read the full report, click here.

Essays on the World’s Problems and Solutions

John Scales Avery, a frequent contributor to NAPF’s wagingpeace.org website, has published a collection of essays on the urgent problems the world is facing and the solutions available to us. Avery said, “We must work together to save human civilization and the biosphere from the twin threats of nuclear war and climate change. Together we can do it.”

To access many of Avery’s essays, click here.

Robert Scheer to Deliver the 15th Annual Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is pleased to welcome Robert Scheer, one of the nation’s most outspoken and progressive journalists, Professor of Communications at the University of Southern California, and Editor-In-Chief of Truthdig.com, to deliver the 15th Annual Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future.

Scheer’s lecture, entitled “War, Peace, Truth and the Media,” will take place on Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. at the Faulkner Gallery in the Santa Barbara Public Library, 40 E. Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, California. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, click here.

2016 Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest is Launched

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has announced the topic for its 2016 Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest. This year’s contest will address NAPF’s new program “Humanize Not Modernize,” which opposes the modernization of nuclear arsenals and supports funding the many unmet human needs in the world.

All nine of the world’s nuclear-armed nations are modernizing or planning to modernize their nuclear arsenals. This is not only extraordinarily expensive, but also very dangerous. The United States alone plans to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years to modernize its arsenal. Many of its proposed modernization programs will serve to make nuclear weapons more usable in conflict.

Contestants will make videos of no more than 3 minutes about why we need to #HumanizeNotModernize. The video can address issues around all nine nuclear-armed nations, or one nation in particular.

The contest is free to enter and is open to people of all ages around the world. For more information, visit www.peacecontests.org.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Endorses NAPF for 2016 Nobel Peace Prize

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the 1990 Nobel Peace Laureate and member of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Advisory Council, has endorsed NAPF for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. NAPF is one of three nominees that Archbishop Tutu has endorsed for this year’s prize. Click here to read an article about his endorsement.

To read the nomination letter by Bill Wickersham, Peace Studies professor at the University of Missouri, click here.

“That’s what nuclear bombs do, whether they’re used or not. They violate everything that is human; they alter the meaning of life. Why do we tolerate them? Why do we tolerate the men who use nuclear weapons to blackmail the entire human race?”

— Arundhati Roy. This quote is featured in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available for purchase in the NAPF Peace Store.

“…weapons-modernization programs in the U.S. and Russia continue to violate the spirit—and, I believe, the letter—of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

— Lawrence Krauss, chair of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Click here to read his op-ed in the New Yorker about the Doomsday Clock.

“War destroys. And we must cry out for peace. Peace sometimes gives the idea of stillness, but it is never stillness. It is always an active peace. I think that everyone must be committed in the matter of peace, to do everything that they can, what I can do from here. Peace is the language we must speak.”

— Pope Francis

David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

Paris: War Is Not the Answer

by David Krieger

The attacks on innocents in Paris on November 13, 2015 were horrifying crimes, filling the city with grief and uniting people throughout the world in solidarity with the victims and with France.  These attacks were cold-blooded murders of innocent people, clearly crimes deserving punishment.  But when crimes are used as the impetus for war, the crimes and grief are multiplied and the toll of innocents increases to become the norm.  Surely, we must cry havoc, but we must also be wary of letting loose the dogs of war.

The attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 were also unspeakable crimes.  These attacks also stirred the sympathy and solidarity of the world, in this case for the United States, until the U.S. answered the attacks by letting loose the snarling dogs of war, first against Afghanistan and then against Iraq, a country having nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.  The leaders who perpetrated these wars also caused untold sorrow and death of innocents.  While perpetrators of the attacks in New York, including Osama bin Laden, have been tracked down and captured or killed, those U.S. leaders who committed the worst of the Nuremberg crimes, crimes against peace, particularly in Iraq, have never been brought to justice.

To read more, click here.

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Warns of Nuclear War, Nuclear Terror

by Robert Kazel

Although peace activists know it well, the average American is “blissfully unaware” that the likelihood of a nuclear attack inside U.S. borders has markedly increased for two reasons: serious deterioration in relations between American officials and their Russian counterparts and potential development by terrorists of improvised nuclear technology.

That was the warning delivered in November by William Perry, former U.S. secretary of defense, who told attendees in Chicago at the annual Clock Symposium sponsored by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that intensified public information campaigns will be essential to enlighten a citizenry that’s become complacent and ignorant about the rising threat of catastrophe.

To read more, click here.

Acceptance Speech at NAPF’s 2015 Evening for Peace

by Setsuko Thurlow

I am delighted to be here tonight, and meet all of you, working hard for a peaceful and just world free of nuclear weapons. I am honored and humbled to receive your Award tonight. I am truly grateful. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Tonight I would like to share with you my personal testimony of surviving the atomic bombing as a child victim, and then living in North America advocating for the abolition of nuclear weapons. For the 70th anniversary of the bombings, it is appropriate to reflect upon and ponder the meaning of living in the nuclear age.

To read more, click here.

UN General Assembly to Vote on Nuclear Disarmament Resolutions

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is urging countries to vote in favor of numerous nuclear disarmament-related resolutions on December 7.  ICAN is calling on governments to support resolutions in support of an open-ended working group on nuclear disarmament, the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, the Humanitarian Pledge, and the ethical imperatives of a nuclear weapons-free world.

These four resolutions were adopted in the First Committee by a significant majority. Since the First Committee voted in November, nuclear-armed countries have pressured non-nuclear countries to abstain or vote against the resolutions.

To read the ICAN action alert and see how you can help, click here.

Russia Says Leak of Secret Nuclear Weapon Design Was an Accident

A Russian television station has broadcast a report that seemed to inadvertently reveal the design for a nuclear-armed drone submarine that could attack coastlines. The submarine has not yet been produced, and the Kremlin insists that the revelation was accidental.

The document said that the submarine would “defeat important economic objects of an enemy in coastal zones, bringing guaranteed and unacceptable losses on the country’s territory by forming a wide area of radioactive contamination incompatible with conducting military, economic or any other activities there for a long period of time.”

Many analysts believe that this information was leaked purposely as part of the heightened nuclear saber-rattling between Russia and the United States.

Andrew E. Kramer, “Russia Says Leak of Secret Nuclear Weapon Design Was an Accident,” The New York Times, November 12, 2015.

U.S. Launches Nuclear Missile off California Coast, Causing UFO Scare

On November 7, the U.S. Navy launched an unarmed Trident II D5 missile from a submarine off the coast of California just after dark. The resulting streak of light across the sky, which could be seen as far away as Arizona, caused many people to think they were seeing a UFO or a meteor.

The Navy does not announce tests of its nuclear-capable missiles in advance. The missile, which can carry nuclear warheads many times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed the city of Hiroshima, landed at a target in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The Navy later stated that the test was part of “a scheduled, ongoing system evaluation test.”

Emma Henderson, “‘UFO Over Los Angeles on Saturday Night Revealed to be Trident Missile Launched by U.S. Navy,” The Independent, November 11, 2015.

Turkey Shoots Down Russian Fighter Jet

On November 24, Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet that it claims was violating its airspace after repeated warnings went unheeded. Russia, on the other hand, claims that the aircraft was in Syria when it was shot down. Regardless of the exact location of the Russian jet, this military action has significantly raised the levels of tension between nuclear-armed rivals. Also, when the tables were turned and one of his own jets was shot down by Syria in 2012 over an air space violation, then Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan (now its president) complained: “Even if the plane was in their airspace for a few seconds, that is no excuse to attack.”

Russia possesses approximately 4,500 nuclear weapons, while Turkey is part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which is a nuclear-armed alliance. The United States stores approximately 60 nuclear weapons on Turkish territory under the auspices of NATO nuclear sharing.

Martin Hellman, who writes regularly about nuclear risk, wrote of this situation, “If we keep ignoring [nuclear] risk, eventually one of these provocative incidents will blow up in our faces. The time to recognize that danger and to start work on reducing the risk is now, not once a crisis exists.” You can read Hellman’s three-article series by clicking the link below.

Martin Hellman, “Turkey Shoots Down Russian Jet: What Happens Next?,” Defusing the Nuclear Threat, November 24, 2015.

Does Your Bank Finance Nuclear Weapons Production?

Pax, a peace organization based in the Netherlands, has published a revised edition of the report “Don’t Bank on the Bomb.” The report examines in detail the records of companies involved in the production of nuclear weapons, as well as financial institutions that finance them.

While the majority of nuclear weapons funding comes from taxpayers in nuclear-armed countries, private sector investors also provide financing that enables the production, maintenance and modernization of nuclear arsenals.

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation recently issued an action alert targeting State Farm, one of the many institutions that finance companies that produce nuclear weapons. Click here to take action by encouraging State Farm to stop financing nuclear weapons producers.

Huge Acquisition Costs Threaten Nuclear Modernization Plans

Michael McCord, Pentagon Comptroller, has said that the massive future costs of acquiring new nuclear weapon delivery systems will be one of the biggest challenges facing the next U.S. President. McCord estimates that by the year 2021, the U.S. will need to come up with at least $10 billion per year through 2035 in order to fulfill current plans to modernize its nuclear weapons, delivery systems and production facilities.

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has published a new booklet entitled “Humanize Not Modernize” that outlines just some of the things that could benefit society instead of the $1 trillion that the U.S. intends to spend on nuclear modernization over the next 30 years. To read the booklet, click here.

Jordana Mishory, “McCord: Nuclear Modernization Bow Wave Is Biggest Acquisition Problem,” Inside Defense, November 13, 2015.

Tony de Brum and People of the Marshall Islands Win the Right Livelihood Award

On November 30, Tony de Brum, Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands, received the Right Livelihood Award in a ceremony at the Swedish Parliament. De Brum and the people of the Marshall Islands were given the award, commonly called the Alternative Nobel Prize, “in recognition of their vision and courage to take legal action against the nuclear powers for failing to honor their disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and customary international law.”

To watch a video of de Brum’s award acceptance speech, click here.

To read more about the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits, click here.

A Ground Zero Forgotten

Over the past 70 years, the Marshall Islands have faced numerous challenges. The United States tested 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958, resulting in incalculable damage to people and the environment that continues to this day. Lately, the realities of global climate change have been manifesting dangerously on the low-lying islands, with rising sea levels threatening their continued existence.

The Marshall Islands has not taken these challenges lightly. They are a leading voice in the movement to combat climate change, including at the international negotiations currently taking place in Paris. They are also proactively working to eliminate the nuclear weapons threat through the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits, which they filed in 2014 against all nine nuclear-armed nations.

Dan Zak, “A Ground Zero Forgotten,” Washington Post, November 29, 2015.

December’s Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog is the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Their website, www.thebulletin.org, contains many distinct blogs, including Nuclear Notebook, Development and Disarmament Roundtable, Voices of Tomorrow, and many more.

To go to the site, click here.

This Month in Nuclear Threat History

History chronicles many instances when humans have been threatened by nuclear weapons. In this article, Jeffrey Mason outlines some of the most serious threats that have taken place in the month of December, including the December 5, 1965 incident in which a U.S. 4E Skyhawk fighter jet armed with a Mark 43 hydrogen bomb rolled off an aircraft carrier and fell into the Pacific Ocean. The hydrogen bomb was lost.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

For more information on the history of the Nuclear Age, visit NAPF’s Nuclear Files website.

The Climate-Nuclear Nexus

Just in time for the global climate meetings in Paris, the World Future Council has published a new report entitled “The Climate-Nuclear Nexus.” The report, principally authored by Jurgen Scheffran of the University of Hamburg, considers how nuclear weapons and climate change have grave implications for global and human security, and how the two interact with each other.

For a rising number of people, the effects of these two threats are not a theoretical, future issue of concern. Behind the facts and figures are stories of real suffering from climate change and nuclear weapons programs. The people of the Marshall Islands, who are threatened by rising sea levels and are still heavily impacted by U.S. nuclear weapon testing from 1946-58, are a clear example.

To read the full report, click here.

We Are Many

A new documentary film entitled “We Are Many” will be screened in the coming weeks in New York and Los Angeles. The film, by Amir Amirani, chronicles the 2003 worldwide protests against the invasion of Iraq that were the largest global protests ever. On February 15, 2003, over 15 million people marched to protest the invasion of Iraq in over 800 cities around the world. The film unveils the drama, emotion, magnitude and stories of this historic day. To view a trailer of the film, click here.

The film will screen numerous times each day in New York from December 4-10, and in Los Angeles from December 11-17. For information and tickets to the New York screenings, click here. For information and tickets to the Los Angeles screenings, click here.

The Art of Waging Peace Documentary

NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell may soon have a new teaching tool available for the classroom and for non-violence activists everywhere: a documentary on The Art of Waging Peace.

Filmmaker Kent Forbes first heard about Paul when he gave a lecture at the University of Maine in 2012. “His talk really stuck with me,” said Forbes. “I was very intrigued by his original approach to the problem of war and by his unique qualifications.”

To read more about the documentary and to watch a teaser, click here.

Give the Gift of Peace from the NAPF Peace Store

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s online peace store has many great gifts for your peace-loving family and friends. From books to t-shirts, from sunflower “seeds of peace” to tote bags, you’re sure to find some meaningful and lasting gifts.

Order today and you’ll receive your items in time for the holidays.

Humanize Not Modernize Tote Bags Now Available

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s new campaign, “Humanize Not Modernize,” has just been launched. Over the next year, we will be letting you know specifically what could be done with the $1 trillion that the United States plans to spend modernizing its nuclear weapons, delivery systems and production infrastructure over the next three decades.

As part of this campaign, we have produced a limited number of “Humanize Not Modernize” reusable tote bags. They can be a great conversation starter about this important issue wherever you go. The bags are available for purchase in the NAPF Peace Store.

In addition, through December 31, if you donate $25 to the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, we will send you a tote bag as a token of our thanks. If you donate $50 or more by December 31, we will send you two tote bags – one for yourself and one to give away.

Evening for Peace Video Now Available

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has published a video of our 2015 Evening for Peace, honoring Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and a dedicated campaigner for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Ms. Thurlow’s acceptance speech is also available as a written transcript here.

“We condemn the billions of dollars that several nuclear weapons states are committing to spending to modernize their arsenals as well as the arms race such actions are stimulating.”

— Statement from the 15th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, which took place in Barcelona November 13-15, 2015.

“What shall remain in the wake of this war, in the midst of which we are living now? What shall remain? Ruins, thousands of children without education, so many innocent victims, and lots of money in the pockets of arms dealers.”

— Pope Francis

“The hope of humankind is that compassion and compromise may replace the cruel and senseless violence of armed conflicts.”

— Benjamin Ferencz, American attorney and prosecutor at the Nuremburg Tribunal. This quote appears in Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available for purchase in the NAPF Peace Store.

David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

2015 Evening for Peace Introduction

by David Krieger

Tonight we shine a light on courageous Peace Leadership. This is the 32nd time we have presented our Distinguished Peace Leadership Award. It has gone to some of the great Peace Leaders of our time, including the XIVth Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Carl Sagan, Yehudi Menuhin, Jody Williams, Jacques Cousteau, Helen Caldicott and Medea Benjamin.

We are honored to be presenting our 2015 award to an exceptional woman, who is a hibakusha and child victim of war. She was just 13 years old when the US dropped an atomic bomb on her city of Hiroshima. She lost consciousness and awakened to find herself pinned beneath a collapsed building.

She thought she would die, but she survived and has made it her life’s work to end the nuclear weapons era and to assure that her past does not become someone else’s future. She is a global leader in the fight to prevent a Global Hiroshima and assure that Nagasaki remains the last city to suffer a nuclear attack. Our honoree is a Peace Ambassador of the United Nations University of Peace in Costa Rica, a Peace Ambassador of the city of Hiroshima, and was a nominee for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

To read more, click here.

Time for Nuclear Sharing to End

by Xanthe Hall

It is a little known fact: Germany (and four other European countries) host nuclear weapons as part of NATO “nuclear sharing.” This means that in a nuclear attack the US can load its bombs onto German (or Belgian, Italian, Turkish and Dutch) aircraft and the pilots of those countries will drop them on an enemy target. This arrangement pre-dates the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which explicitly disallows any transfer of nuclear weapons from a nuclear weapon state to a non-nuclear weapon state, thus undermining the spirit of the treaty.

This new nuclear bomb – the B61-12 – is intended to replace all its older versions and be able to destroy more targets than previous models. It is touted by the nuclear laboratories as an “all-in-one” bomb, a “smart” bomb, that does not simply get tossed out of an aircraft, but can be guided and hit its target with great precision using exactly the right amount of explosive strength to only destroy what needs to be destroyed.

To read more, click here.

Legal Gap or Compliance Gap?

by John Burroughs and Peter Weiss

If the use of nuclear weapons already is unlawful, how should the concept of a “legal gap” be understood? The deficiency should be seen as a compliance gap, the failure to eliminate nuclear weapons in accordance with Article VI of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). That article requires the pursuit of negotiations in good faith of “effective measures…relating to nuclear disarmament.”

The concept of a legal gap should not be understood as in any way signaling that the use of nuclear weapons is currently legally permissible. Nuclear weapons simply cannot be used in compliance with fundamental principles of international law protecting civilians from the effects of warfare, protecting combatants from unnecessary suffering, and protecting the natural environment.

To read more, click here.

Russia: Global Strike Concept Impedes Nuclear Disarmament

Speaking at the First Committee at the United Nations General Assembly, the Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department for non-proliferation and arms control, Mikhail Ulyanov, said, “This policy [of Prompt Global Strike] can be an insurmountable obstacle on the way of implementing further steps for the reduction of nuclear arsenals.”

Prompt Global Strike is a program of the U.S. military to deliver a precision-guided conventional weapon anywhere in the world within one hour. Critics of Prompt Global Strike argue that it is impossible for a target country, such as Russia, to know for sure whether an incoming missile would contain a conventional or nuclear warhead. This would significantly increase the dangers of an accidental nuclear war.

“Foreign Ministry: U.S. Prompt Global Strike Concept Impedes Nuclear Disarmament,” Russia Beyond the Headlines, October 12, 2015.

Two Fires at Nuclear Waste Dumps

A state-owned radioactive waste dump caught fire in Nevada on October 18. The pit is thought to store low-level nuclear waste, such as contaminated laboratory gear. Fire Marshal Chief Peter Mulvihill said, “We don’t know exactly what caught fire. We’re not exactly sure what was burning in that pit.”

In St. Louis, an underground fire has been smoldering for five years beneath a landfill. The fire is now less than a quarter-mile from a large deposit of nuclear waste. The nuclear waste originated in 1942 when Mallinckrodt Chemical Works processed uranium for the Manhattan Project. The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to figure out exactly where all of the radioactive material is located and is considering ideas for how to place a barrier between the fire and the nuclear waste.

Keith Rogers, “Fire that Shut Down US 95 Called Hot, Powerful,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 20, 2015.

Matt Pearce, “Officials Squabble as Underground Fire Burns Near Radioactive Waste Dump in St. Louis Area,” Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2015.

U.S. to Clean Up Site of 1966 Nuclear Accident in Spain

After nearly 50 years, the United States has announced that it will clean up radioactive contamination caused by a plane crash in 1966. A U.S. B-52 bomber carrying four nuclear weapons collided with a KC-135 tanker plane over southeast Spain. Two of the hydrogen bombs were recovered intact from the sea, but the other two landed in the countryside, spewing 3 kilograms of plutonium 239 around the town of Palomares. At least 50,000 cubic meters of earth are still contaminated.

According to The Guardian, “The Palomares clean-up deal is seen by many as a sweetener in exchange for Spain agreeing to Washington ramping up its military presence in the country.”

Stephen Burgen, “US to Clean Up Spanish Radioactive Site 49 Years After Plane Crash,” The Guardian, October 19, 2015.

Doctors Without Borders Hospitals Bombed in Afghanistan and Yemen

Two hospitals operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), an international non-governmental organization dedicated to providing medical care and supplies to people in conflict and disaster zones, were bombed during the month of October. In the first incident, U.S. planes dropped bombs on a MSF hospital in Kunduz, killing 22 MSF staff and patients.

In Yemen, the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition bombed the MSF hospital multiple times over a two-hour period on October 26. The hospital’s roof was marked with the Doctors Without Borders logo, and the GPS coordinates had been shared multiple times with the Saudi-led coalition.

Click here to read a poem about the Afghanistan hospital bombing entitled “War Crime Blues.”

Sune Engel Rasmussen, “Kunduz Hospital Attack: How a US Military ‘Mistake’ Left 22 Dead,” The Guardian, October 21, 2015.

“Yemen: US-Backed Coalition Bombs Doctors Without Borders Hospital,” Democracy Now, October 28, 2015.

U.S. Awards Huge Contract to Northrup Grumman for New Stealth Nuclear Bomber

The U.S. government has awarded a contract worth up to $80 billion to Northrup Grumman to develop a new stealth bomber capable of delivering nuclear weapons. This massive program is just one part of the Pentagon’s plan to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years to “modernize” U.S. nuclear weapons, delivery vehicles and production infrastructure.

Over the past five years, Northrup Grumman’s political action committees and its employees have contributed $4.6 million to the campaigns and PACs of 224 lawmakers on the House and Senate Armed Services and Appropriations Committees. Northrup Grumman also spent $85.4 million during that time to lobby Congress, the Department of Defense and other agencies.

Alexander Cohen, “New Strategic Bomber Contract Awarded After Millions of Dollars Worth of Lobbying,” Huffington Post, October 28, 2015.

Robert Burns, “Air Force Picks Northrup Grumman to Build Next Big Bomber,” Associated Press, October 27, 2015.

UK Trident Replacement to Cost at Least $256 Billion

The United Kingdom’s plan to replace its four nuclear-armed Trident submarines will cost at least $256 billion, according to new figures released by Crispin Blunt, a Conservative Member of Parliament. Blunt said, “The successor Trident program is going to consume more than double the proportion of the defense budget of its predecessor…. The price required, both from the UK taxpayer and our conventional forces, is now too high to be rational or sensible.”

Stewart Hosie, deputy leader of the Scottish National Party, said, “This is truly an unthinkable and indefensible sum of money to spend on the renewal of an unwanted and unusable nuclear weapons system.”

Elizabeth Piper, “Exclusive: UK Nuclear Deterrent to Cost 167 Billion Pounds, Far More than Expected,” Reuters, October 25, 2015.

U.S. Government Files Response Brief at Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

On October 28, the United States government filed a Response Brief in the Nuclear Zero Lawsuit that is currently pending at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Laurie Ashton, Counsel for the Marshall Islands in the case, commented on the U.S. response: “Anyone studying the United States Response Brief can see the disconnect between the parties’ positions.  Under the United States’ position, the President is above the law.  But, while the United States claims a constitutional textual commitment of this case to the President, it cites no actual constitutional text, nor does it respond to the constitutional text cited by the Marshall Islands.  It also is disappointing to see the United States continue to rely on inapplicable case law concluding that when diplomacy fails in a treaty dispute, peaceful judicial resolution is not an option, but War is.  We look forward to filing our Reply Brief in early December.”

Click here to access all of the court documents from the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits, including the case in U.S. Federal Court and the cases in the International Court of Justice.

Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Interviewed on Russian Television

RT recently interviewed Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony de Brum about the legacy of U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands (RMI) and the current efforts by the RMI to abolish nuclear weapons and stop climate change.

Minister de Brum was an eyewitness to many U.S. nuclear weapon tests in the RMI, including the 1954 Castle Bravo test, the largest nuclear test ever conducted by the United States. From 1946 to 1958, the U.S. conducted 67 nuclear weapon tests in the RMI, with the equivalent explosive yield of 1.6 Hiroshima-sized bombs daily over the 12-year period.

De Brum also discussed the RMI’s current efforts to hold nuclear-armed nations accountable for upholding international law relating to ending the nuclear arms race and negotiating for nuclear disarmament. De Brum will also be a key figure at the upcoming climate negotiations in Paris in early December.

Oksana Boyko, “Nuclear (a)toll? Ft. Tony de Brum, the Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands,” RT, October 18, 2015.

November’s Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog is the Nuclear Secrecy Blog by Alex Wellerstein. Wellerstein is a historian of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology and is well known for his interactive NUKEMAP software.

Recent titles on the blog include, “The Plot Against Leo Szilard,” “Neglected Niigata,” and “Did Lawrence Doubt the Bomb?”

To read the blog, click here.

This Month in Nuclear Threat History

History chronicles many instances when humans have been threatened by nuclear weapons. In this article, Jeffrey Mason outlines some of the most serious threats that have taken place in the month of November, including the November 26, 1958 incident at Chennault Air Force Base in Louisiana, in which a nuclear-armed B-47 bomber caught fire. The nuclear weapon’s high explosive charges detonated, spreading radioactive materials over a large area.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

For more information on the history of the Nuclear Age, visit NAPF’s Nuclear Files website.

Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist

NAPF President David Krieger recently wrote a review of the book Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist by David Hartsough. An excerpt of the review is below:

“I recently read this impressive autobiography by nonviolent activist David Hartsough, which I recommend highly.  David was born in 1940 and has been a lifelong participant and leader in actions seeking a more decent world through nonviolent means.  His guiding stars have been peace, justice, nonviolence and human dignity.  He has been a foe of all U.S. wars during his lifetime, and a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War.  He has lived his nonviolence and made it an adventure in seeking truth, as Gandhi did.  I will not try to recount the many adventures that he writes about, but they include civil rights sit-ins, blockading weapons bound for Vietnam, accompanying at-risk individuals in the wars in Central America and creating, with a colleague, a Nonviolent Peaceforce.

“David Hartsough’s life is inspiring, and the lessons he draws from his experiences are valuable in paving the way to a world without war.  I encourage you to read his book on his lifelong efforts at Waging Peace.”

To read the full book review, click here.

Project Censored

Adam Horowitz, Director of the documentary Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project 4.1, has written a chapter in the 2016 edition of Project Censored, which is available to purchase online now. Project Censored highlights the top censored stories and media analysis from 2014-15. Adam’s chapter focuses on the efforts of PBS to prevent Nuclear Savage from being shown on the air in the United States.

The film tells the story of American Cold War nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, and how U.S. government scientists deliberately exposed populations of local islanders to massive radiation fallout. It is a shocking tale of U.S. government-sanctioned human rights abuse.

To purchase a copy of the 2016 Project Censored publication, click here. To learn more about Nuclear Savage, click here.

Open Letter to President Obama

On April 5, 2009, President Obama declared in Prague the United States’ dedication to “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” Recently, NAPF President David Krieger sent an open letter to President Obama, encouraging him to take decisive action in his last year in office to facilitate the achievement of this goal.

Click here to read David Krieger’s letter to President Obama. To take action by adding your name and comments in a letter to President Obama, click here.

The Path to a World Free of Nuclear Weapons

NAPF President David Krieger has been selected to guest-edit an upcoming issue of the journal Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice on the topic of “The Path to a World Free of Nuclear Weapons.”

Is a world without nuclear weapons attainable and, if so, what will be required to create such a world? What obstacles will need to be overcome? This theme can be explored from a variety of perspectives – legal, moral, organizational, political, economic, as well as from the perspectives of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and various forms of security (national, international, global, and human security).

Essays of 2,500 to 3,500 words (with no footnotes or endnotes) along with a 1-2 line biography must be received by April 1, 2016 no later than 5 p.m. PST for publication in mid-August. Please include a short recommended readings list. Details are available on the Submission Guidelines page. Eight to ten essays will be selected for publication.

Please direct content-based questions or concerns to NAPF at wagingpeace@napf.org.

Evening for Peace Honoring Setsuko Thurlow

On October 25, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation hosted its 32nd Annual Evening for Peace in Santa Barbara, California. The Foundation honored Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, with its Distinguished Peace Leadership Award for her lifetime of work to abolish nuclear weapons.

Over 75 local high school and college students were able to attend the event thanks to the sponsorship of the Santa Barbara Foundation and other generous donors. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the event’s lead sponsor, Sherry Melchiorre, and all of the sponsors for making such a memorable evening possible.

To read more about the event, view photos, and see the full list of sponsors, click here.

Respect and Peace Leadership in Maine

At Fryeburg Academy’s annual United Nations Flag Processional in October, each flag-bearer was introduced and asked to say one word in their native language: respect. This event, held in Fryeburg, Maine, was highlighted by NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell, who delivered a powerful message of how to avoid conflict through respect.

“Most human conflict,” said Chappell, “is a result of people feeling disrespected. Universally, every culture finds these three things respectful: Being able to listen, being able to recognize someone’s worth and potential, and leading by example.”

To read more about Paul’s recent trip to Maine, click here.

“If the nuclear-armed states refuse to participate in the negotiating process, we must accept that. We cannot compel them to engage. But we must not feel powerless to act without their endorsement. It is time for the nuclear-free majority to assert itself more confidently.”

— H.E. Dr. Caleb Otto, Permanent Representative of Palau to the United Nations, in a speech at the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on October 21, 2015.

“I have not assumed that you or any other sane man would, in this nuclear age, deliberately plunge the world into war which it is crystal clear no country could win and which could only result in catastrophic consequences to the whole world, including the aggressor.”

— John F. Kennedy, in a phone call to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev on October 22, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

“Remember always…people are more important than countries.”

— Mairead Maguire. This quote appears in Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available for purchase in the NAPF Peace Store.

David Krieger
Grant Stanton
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman