Stop America's One-Nation Arms Race (US)

Stop America's One-Nation Arms Race

Nearly 15 years after the end of the Cold War, US spending on nuclear weapons continues to rise. For the Fiscal Year 2006 budget, the Department of Energy (DoE) is requesting more than $6.63 billion for nuclear weapons activities. Contact your members of Congress and urge them to reduce funding for nuclear weapons activities and direct more money to dismantling nuclear weapons and cleaning up the nuclear complex.

As you may know, States parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are currently meeting at the United Nations in New York for the Seventh Review Conference of the treaty. The NPT, which is considered a cornerstone of global nonproliferation and disarmament efforts, is under threat of unraveling all together. If the US is to effectively use this NPT Review Conference to persuade non-nuclear weapon states to live up to their obligation under the treaty to forego acquiring nuclear weapons, the US must move decisively toward fulfilling its own obligations under the treaty for nuclear disarmament.

Dr. Robert Civiak, a former nuclear weapons program and budget examiner with the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has prepared a new analysis of 2006 DoE budget request entitled “America’s One-Nation Arms Race” for Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (CAREs). Although the DoE’s budget request for 2006 may be less overall than last year, the proposed funds for nuclear weapons are up. In addition, money requested for environmental cleanup is less than for 2005. As Dr. Civiak points out in his report, the 2006 budget is one and one-half times the average annual spending on nuclear weapons during the Cold War, even after accounting for inflation. In his report, Dr. Civiak analyzes proposed new nuclear weapons programs and offers an alternative proposal for a “curratorship” approach that would save $2 billion of the 2006 budget request.

As a positive measure that will simultaneously strengthen security for the US and the world, Congress should support the goals of nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in good faith by cutting $2 billion from the Department of Energy (DoE) Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Request for Nuclear Weapons Activities. There are many good reasons to cut the DoE nuclear weapons budget. Chief among them is that a budget cut now will show the world we are serious about the NPT. And, while a $2 billion budget cut will not, by itself, constitute full compliance with our disarmament obligation under Article VI of the NPT, it will be a positive step in the right direction.

Take action now to help stop America’s One-Nation Arms Race. Contact your members of Congress and urge them to reorient the management of the US nuclear arsenal away from the current, aggressive “stockpile stewardship” program of new weapons development and toward a “curatorship” approach instead. Tell them you would like to see nuclear weapons funding reduced and more money directed toward nuclear weapons dismantlement and cleaning up the toxic legacy of the Nuclear Age.

Click here to download and read Dr. Civiak’s report from the Tri-Valley CAREs website.