Peter Fedewa

Earlier this year, we asked our followers to tell us a little bit about themselves and what aspects of Ploughshares Fund’s work matter most to them. I’d like to share some of the highlights.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver put the spotlight on the absurdity of the US nuclear weapons complex. It was a comic spin on a very serious issue. But, it also made me angry. The fear of mutually assured destruction is supposed to be a thing of the past. I shouldn’t have to worry that one miscalculation could mean the end of life as we know it. I shouldn’t have to worry that my child will live under the same quiet fear. But I do. I do because policymakers continue to fail to recognize what John Oliver makes so evident – nuclear weapons are only good for one thing – terror.

It started with one explosion in 1945. An explosion unlike any the world had ever seen. The first nuclear weapon, detonated by the United States, launched an era of nuclear proliferation that persists to this day. With the end of the Cold War, nuclear weapons are increasingly irrelevant, but the threat they represent is still very real. The tide of proliferation has ebbed. Now we have the chance to roll it back to end the threat of nuclear weapons forever.

On March 1, 1954, the U.S. conducted its largest nuclear test. The Castle Bravo nuclear test on Bikini Atoll unexpectedly unleashed 15 megatons of explosive force on the tiny island. At 1,000 times the strength of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Castle Bravo’s devastating effects where widely felt across the western Pacific.

This year we saw a nearly 16% decrease in the number of nuclear weapons in the world. This is great progress but there is far more work for us to do.

We see the same story play out in the news almost every day. Costs are rising, revenues are falling and programs and infrastructure that we use all the time are seeing their funding cut. But what’s happening to the things we don’t use and don’t need? The U.S. operates an outsized strategic nuclear force. How much is that costing taxpayers?

The ratification of New START by the U.S. and Russia set a new ceiling for deployed strategic nuclear weapons at 1,550 in each country. Given the cost of maintaining these weapons and their lack of utility on the modern battlefield, the U.S. could (and should) go even lower.

With Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye and Nick Fury facing off against Loki and a horde of Chitauri from another world one would not expect that the ultimate villain in the film, typically, is a nuclear weapon threatening to vaporize New York City under the auspices of saving the planet from invaders.

There are plenty of songs out there that reference some kind of nuclear holocaust but few, if any, are as up-tempo and cheerful as satirist Tom Lehrer’s “We will all go Together when We Go.” This performance was recorded in 1967, in the midst of the Cold War.

Today, the B-2 Stealth bomber is capable of delivering 1,280 times the destructive power that the Enola Gay brought to bear on Hiroshima in 1945. On a scale, what does that look like? And, more to the point isn’t it a little excessive? Take a look below and judge for yourself. If you make it all the way, leave a comment and let us know what you think.