Obama’s Choice on No First Use

Obama and no first use - “President Barack Obama is said to be weighing the [no first use] question right now—with grave possible consequences for the world. With the delivery to the Oval Office 10 days ago of a high-level internal review of the pros and cons of adopting a policy of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons, it’s finally up to Obama to give thumbs up or down, with just four months to go in his presidency,” writes Bruce Blair for Politico Magazine.

--“Would taking a nuclear first strike off the table encourage conventional aggression? Hardly, given that potential adversaries already believe they could wage limited conventional warfare with the United States without triggering escalation to the nuclear level… Nor have nuclear first-strike plans against countries like Iran, Syria, Iraq and Libya discouraged them from fighting the United States and our allies directly or through proxies… A recent Global Zero study finds that neither elite nor public opinion among our 30 key allies believes that U.S. nuclear first use is critical to their defense.” Full story here. http://politi.co/2ds2SGn

Tweet - @GlobalZero: Next US Pres can either spend $1 tril to "modernize" nukes or choose security & financial reason. #Election2016 http://reut.rs/2d26wHj

Lieu & Markey seek nuclear reform - “Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-CA-33) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the ‘Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2016’ [on Tuesday]. This legislation would prohibit the President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress,” reads a press release from the office of Senator Ed Markey.

--“‘Nuclear war poses the gravest risk to human survival. Unfortunately, by maintaining the option of using nuclear weapons first in a conflict, U.S. policy increases the risk of unintended nuclear escalation,’ said Senator Markey, co-founder of the Congressional Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation. ‘The President should not use nuclear weapons except in response to a nuclear attack.’” Full press release here. http://bit.ly/2dCpujp

World wants nuclear ban - “Despite arm-twisting and vocal opposition from nuclear powers like the United States, six non-nuclear countries urged the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday to work toward a ‘legally-binding’ accord to ban nuclear weapons in hopes of ridding them from the planet altogether one day,” writes Jamey Keaton for the Associated Press. “The countries — Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa — sent world diplomats a draft text that calls for a U.N. conference next year to draw up a treaty banning nuclear weapons, diplomats said.” Read the full article here. http://apne.ws/2cCXm2j

Democracy and the nuclear arsenal - “In the United States, the president has the absolute authority to launch a nuclear attack. He or she doesn’t have to seek approval from the legislative branch, the public, or anyone else. If the president wills Armageddon, there’s effectively no way to stop it from happening… Legally, there are no constraints on the president’s ability to launch a war that could wreck the planet for generations. I don’t know about you, but I kind of like it here - shouldn’t we at least get to vote on that?” Read the full article by John Carl Baker for The Huffington Post here. http://huff.to/2di7ZDI

Tweet - @WomensAction: History of the Cuban Missile Crisis, we can't allow luck to be the only thing that stops a nuclear war: http://bit.ly/2cNSJkE

U.S. Project Iceworm revealed - “A top-secret US military project from the Cold War and the toxic waste it conceals, thought to have been buried forever beneath the Greenland icecap, are likely to be uncovered by rising temperatures within decades, scientists have said… Project Iceworm, presented to the US chiefs of staff in 1960, aimed to use Camp Century’s frozen tunnels to test the feasibility of a huge launch site under the ice, close enough to fire nuclear missiles directly at the Soviet Union,” writes Jon Henley for The Guardian.

--“[The U.S.] left the rest of the camp’s infrastructure – and its biological, chemical and radioactive waste – where it was, on the assumption it would be ‘preserved for eternity’ by the perpetually accumulating snow and ice… Climate change, however, looks certain to reverse that process… The Pentagon has said it ‘acknowledges the reality of climate change and the risk it poses’ for Greenland, adding that the US government has pledged to ‘work with the Danish government and the Greenland authorities to settle questions of mutual security.’” http://bit.ly/2d7Ip63

Quick Hits:

--“Energy secretary: ‘We got it right’ on Iran deal,” by Julian Hattem for The Hill. http://bit.ly/2dx6p5U

--“Nuclear Disarmament: What Next for a New Administration?” a seminar with Dr. Lewis A. Dunn at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies at Monterey. http://bit.ly/2cNWerk

--“How Many Nuclear Weapons Does The United States Have? Pentagon Releases New Numbers,” by Greg Price for International Business Times. http://bit.ly/2cEars5

--“Commentary: What the candidates didn’t say about nukes,” by John Mecklin for Reuters. http://reut.rs/2cYvH8j

--“President Bush ends B-52 alert, Sept. 27, 1991,” by Andrew Glass for Politico Magazine. http://politi.co/2dx6GWD

--“Why Gen-Z should care about CTBT,” by Michael Møller for the Huffington Post. http://huff.to/2dgpUy4

Events:

--“Redefining the U.S. Agenda for Nuclear Disarmament,” with Lewis Dunn, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. September 29 from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Washington. http://bit.ly/2cZaF9c

--“Reykjavik and arms control in U.S.-Soviet/Russian relations,” a panel discussion on October 4 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., at the Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington. http://brook.gs/2deCUkj

--“Iran: Rising Power in the Middle East,” with Joseph Cirincione, President of Ploughshares Fund and other panelists. October 13 at Chapman University, Orange County campus, Beckman Hall 404, Orange, CA. http://chapma.nu/2doMqRP