As I’ve written previously, combing responses to questions for the record (QFRs) from Members of Congress after Congressional hearings can reveal all sorts of interesting information, assuming they’re made available by the Government Printing Office or Steve Aftergood over at the Federation of American Scientists manages to get his hands on a copy and share it with the world.
2012 RNC Platform on Nuclear Weapons and Missile Defense
The National Security Network’s superstar leader Heather Hurlburt has already thoroughly dissected the national security section, and while portions of it are surprisingly reasonable, much of it is unsurprisingly ridiculous. The platform’s discussion of nuclear weapons and missile defense falls under the “ridiculous” category. The Kyl/Turner wing of the GOP appears to have co-opted the RNC on these issues.
Cold comfort
Published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Online on August 27, 2012 Article summary below; read the full text online. As the plausible military rationales for nuclear weapons continue to deteriorate in the aftermath of the Cold War, political and psychological rationales for nuclear weapons — like providing reassurance to US allies — are increasingly […]
Opportunity Knocks on Stockpile Reductions
In case you missed it, another voice joined the growing chorus of respected military leaders to suggest that cuts to the U.S. nuclear stockpile may be in the national interest: General Norton A. Schwartz, chief of staff of the Air Force.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Reminder of the Importance of Arms Reductions and Nonproliferation
This month marks the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombings that brought the Second World War to an end. On August 6th, 1945, the United States dropped a 16 kiloton nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing 140,000 people and immediately burning more than four square miles of the city. Three days later, another atomic bomb with an explosive power of 21 kilotons was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 74,000 people and obliterating everything within a 1,000-yard radius. Thousands more were left homeless from the devastation and suffered radiation side effects for the rest of their lives.
