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Take Action for a Nuclear Weapons Free World Abolishing nuclear arms would By Jake Garn After a tragedy we often ask: Why did this happen? How did this happen? Could we have prevented it? The tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001, still raise these questions. In looking ahead as much as looking back, imagine how much worse those losses would have been if the terrorists had used a nuclear weapon. For decades, nuclear weapons were thought to make us safer by deterring the first strike by another nation. Today we need to re-evaluate the roles and dangers of nuclear weapons in the world. Let's ask ourselves: Does it help the United States to have nuclear weapons? Would the whole world be safer if no one and no nation had even one of these weapons? Is the mere existence of nuclear weapons a threat? We believe today that the possession of nuclear weapons actually diminishes our safety. We agree with former cabinet members and a senator, Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, William Perry and Sam Nunn, that our world will be safer when all nuclear weapons have been abolished and that the complete eradication of nuclear weapons should therefore be a high priority of our government. One of the steps those four distinguished men urge is to increase the warning and decision times before any weapons can be used against another country. Currently, both the United States and Russia maintain about one-third of their strategic arsenals on launch-ready alert. This means that both countries remain in a Cold War posture in which they would launch massive numbers of weapons to prevent the other country from using its weapons. Besides encouraging still more nations to develop nuclear weapons, this outdated deterrence posture increases the possibility that a terrorist group could obtain use of a weapon, either through hacking into a weapon-owning country's computer launch systems or stealing a weapon in transit (Russia constantly moves some of its missile force on transport launchers.) In fact, there is already a successful precedent for the United States to initiate taking weapons off alert status. At the end of September 1991, President George H. W. Bush ordered an immediate stand-down of U.S. strategic bombers that for decades had stood ready for takeoff within 15 minutes. Following discussion with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, 450 Minuteman missiles were "safed" in their silos by flipping a switch to isolate the missiles from remote launch. One of the easiest steps is to change our policy to increase the decision-making time before launching nuclear weapons. More time would then be available to double check for possible computer malfunctions. We can also take physical steps to increase the time it takes for a weapon to be launched. For example, today's modern Minuteman missiles can be "safed" in their silos, much as the older Minuteman missiles were safed in late 1991 at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Fortunately, President-elect Barack Obama supports the broad goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons. Strong citizen and congressional support will be needed for the new president to take steps toward nuclear arms reduction. President-elect Obama will need to reach out to Russia to negotiate the reduction in the nuclear arsenals of both countries. Then we can realistically invite all relevant nations to craft a lasting treaty for the abolition of nuclear arms. This would be a giant step toward true global as well as U.S. security. Jake Garn, a self-employed consultant, was mayor of Salt Lake City before representing Utah in the U.S. Senate from 1974 to 1992. John W. Bennion, a signatory, was superintendent of the Salt Lake City School District. |
