Event: "Nuclear Weapons Bases: Resisting a Global Danger."

Saturday, February 28, 2009
3:15-5:00 p.m.
American University
Ward Circle Building Room 1
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation, and other speakers TBA, "Nuclear Weapons Bases: Resisting a Global Danger."

Part of "No Bases: Security without Empire, National Organizing Conference on Foreign Military Bases," sponsored by American Friends Service Committee and other organizations.

Registration form (in MS Word 97) here.

A Safe, Secure and Dwindling Arsenal

From today's New York Times editorial page:

The Obama administration is studying whether to move the nation’s huge nuclear weapons production and maintenance complex from the Energy Department, its host for more than two decades, to the Defense Department. The more important question is how it can best contribute to a safe reduction of the nuclear arsenal.

Amen to that.

A good first step would be Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. For background on the treaty, see the newly-updated Congressional Research Service report, "Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Background and Current Developments."

But first, shouldn't we get current on our dues?! From the CRS report's executive summary:

U.S. voting rights in the CTBT Organization Preparatory Commission were suspended on January 1, 2009, for not paying enough dues.

Yet another example of lame-duck inaction requiring swift action.

Event: "What Price Nukes? The Hidden Costs of Our Nuclear Arsenal."

Wed. January 14, 2009
9:30-11:00 a.m.
New America Foundation
1630 Connecticut Ave. NW
Seventh Floor
Washington, DC.

Joseph Cirincione, Ploughshares Fund, and Stephen Schwartz, Nonproliferation Review, "What Price Nukes? The Hidden Costs of Our Nuclear Arsenal."

RSVP online

Action: War Profiteers' Ball at Lockheed Martin (Bethesda, 1/19/09, Noon)

The PeaceAction Montgomery Inaugural Committee Requests the Honor of Your Presence at the War Profiteers’ Ball

Join us on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 19, 2009, at noon for The War Profiteers’ Ball, a spirited demonstration that will be held near the front gates of the corporate headquarters of the world's largest military contractor and arms exporter--Lockheed Martin.

Where

We'll meet at the Davis Library, 6400 Democracy Blvd, Bethesda Maryland, 12:00 sharp.

After a brief rally at Davis Library, we’ll march two blocks to the intersection of Democracy Blvd. and Fernwood Road. The busy intersection is within sight of Lockheed’s corporate headquarters. We’ll congregate on a grassy knoll on the Northeast side of the intersection. The familiar Lockheed Martin logo, perched high atop a large Lockheed building, is visible from the demonstration site.

What

Demonstrators will gather under a makeshift tent and toast their champagne (and fruit punch!) glasses to the demise of the global arms peddler. Signs directed at passing motorists will encourage people to contribute to Handicap International, a non-profit that aids civilians devastated by the effect of land mines and cluster bombs. Protesters in formal attire will work all fours sides of the intersection, encouraging motorists to contribute to Handicap International to help relieve the suffering inflicted by Lockheed’s weaponry. Participants will be provided with identical small, decorated buckets for cash donations. Wear your ball gown or tuxedo!

More details:
Visit the Peace Action Montgomery website.

UK Nuclear Warhead Factory Sold to US Companies

From the December 20, 2008 article in the Independent by Ben Russell:

Britain no longer has any stake in the production of its nuclear warheads after the Government secretly sold off its shares in the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston.

See: Secret nuclear sell-off storm: Aldermaston bomb factory is sold to American company in bid to boost Treasury coffers provoking fury as Parliament is bypassed.

The American companies who now share ownership of "AWE" include: Jacobs Engineering Group, Serco, and Lockheed Martin.

Meanwhile, for an overview of UK opposition to Lockheed Martin's manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, see: Lockheed Martin UK and the Muriel Lesters:

The Muriel Lesters, a group of Trident Ploughshares pledgers, are determined the world should know that this multinational giant has a £5.3 billion contract with the UK government to design and build new and illegal weapons of mass destruction at Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment. Both the UK government and Lockheed Martin are breaking international law, and neither wants us to know what they are doing.

More Support for Ratifying a Comprehensive Test Ban

The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation has just published a report summarizing their consultations on nuclear arms control and non-proliferation under the Obama administration, called Strengthening U.S. Security Through Non-Proliferation and Arms Control: Recommendations for the Obama Administration from 60 U.S. and international security policy experts.

Here are the top three recommendations from the executive summary:

• Provide a new direction on nuclear weapons policy that emphasizes “minimum deterrence,” extend the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), and signal intent to pursue negotiations with Russia on further reductions.
• Issue a statement explaining a new vision for nuclear weapons policy and guidance for the 2009 Nuclear Posture Review. The statement should include the intent to pursue nuclear weapons reductions and a reiteration that the only role for nuclear weapons is “minimum deterrence” – deterring the use of nuclear weapons against the United States or U.S. allies.
• Extend START I and begin bilateral negotiations with Russia on further permanent, legally-binding, and verifiable reductions toward a goal of 1,000 deployed and non-deployed nuclear weapons per side or fewer. Send a special envoy to Russia or appoint a working group to signal U.S. intent to maintain verification provisions and move toward reductions.

• Announce intent to secure all vulnerable fissile material in four years as the best way to reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism. Accelerate and prioritize these efforts accordingly and appoint a senior official to coordinate threat reduction efforts.

• Announce intent to seek ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and begin working to build the bipartisan support in the Senate needed for approval.

Good points to make in that FCNL-sponsored email we mentioned the other day (if you haven't sent it already!).

Good news for Hanford Site down-winders

Delightful: Supreme Court rejects Hanford appeal

From the story by Karen Dorn Steele in the December 16, 2008 issue of Spokane's Spokesman Review:

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Hanford’s contractors in the massive downwinders’ lawsuit – raising hopes for a legal settlement for up to 2,000 radiation-exposed people after 18 years of court battles and millions of dollars in litigation costs.

The high court’s one-line denial of the contractors’ appeal was announced today. The contractors, including E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., General Electric Co. and UNC Nuclear Industries Inc., filed their appeal in August, asking the court to review two recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rulings that sided largely with the downwinders.

“This is very exciting for us,” said Richard Eymann of Spokane, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers in the long-running case. “With a new administration coming in, we want a serious look at compensation for these people after years of litigation,” he said.

When weapons manufacturers are denied immunity from liability for damage to the environment, and harm to weapons plant neighbors (not to mention noncombatants!), the true cost of war may finally hit their pocketbooks.

For more news about this decommissioned nuclear weapons production facility in Washington State check out Hanford News, published by Kennewick WA's Tri-City Herald.

Urge Obama to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons (FCNL)

During his campaign, Barack Obama said that as president he would "set a new direction in U.S. nuclear weapons policy" and "work to ultimately eliminate all nuclear weapons."

Urge President-Elect Obama to act on this promise by securing Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. This treaty prohibits all nuclear test explosions and is essential to any effort to prevent the development of new generations of nuclear weapons.

Visit FCNL's Legislative Alert to send an e-mail or fax.