Check out this 30-second spotl, aired during the Republican debates. The American Security Project is a nonpartisan, non-profit think tank that is supported by a bipartisan Board of Directors as well as retired national security officials.

Learn more about us at www.AmericanSecurityProject.org.

Please consider writing a letter to the editor on the importance of cutting the nuclear weapons budget and stop the United States from pouring over $700 billion tax dollars on nuclear weapons over the next ten years. Use the talking points below as a guide, or create your own! Click here for directions on how to send a letter to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Check out National WAND Public Policy Director, Kathy Crandall Robinson's recent Op/Ed in The Hill on the nuclear weapons budget or Daryl Kimbal of the Arms Control Association's piece "Disarmament and the Defecit" for great examples.

• Over 60 percent of the U.S. Energy Department’s budget goes to nuclear weapons related spending.
•  Two decades after the end of the Cold War, the United States is projected to spend an extraordinarily large amount of money maintaining the most sophisticated arsenal in the world consisting of approximately 5,000 largely redundant nuclear weapons.
• Estimates are that over the next decade nuclear weapons spending will add up to about $700 billion.
• Given the nation’s fiscal circumstances, it is time for the bloated nuclear weapons budget to receive serious scrutiny.
• A $700 billion investment is not enhancing America’s national security for the 21st century
• Nuclear submarines, for instance, don’t do much to help thwart terrorism or resolve where we go next with Afghanistan.
• Nuclear weapons have been of declining strategic relevance since President Ronald Reagan’s second term.
• Money spent on nuclear weapons siphons funds away from other, more significant national security investments.
• Maintaining this mega-sized U.S. nuclear arsenal actually undermines efforts to control the inherent risks of nuclear weapons. (i.e.Nuclear weapons and materials are at risk of theft or accident.)
• U.S. nuclear weapons production generates hazards and waste impacting workers, communities and the environment.
• It’s harder to garner world support to isolate and control countries like Pakistan, Iran and North Korea, when we are spending to advance a production capacity to keep forever an overkill nuclear arsenal.

An underwater nuclear explosion

On Thursday, August  18^th at 1:00 p.m., Georgia WAND’s Executive Director Bobbie Paul will lead a conference call to inform and organize the public around The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a global ban on all nuclear weapons explosions on the earth’s surface, underwater and underground. Banning these test explosions drastically reduces any chances of developing new nuclear weapons technologies and programs.

The conference call, coordinated by Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World, is entitled “Training: Grasstops Organizing for the CTBT.” The focus of the conversation will be training the public on the strategy behind Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World’s statewide letter effort, as well as tips for building an impressive list of signers. Bobbie Paul, whose community organizing played an essential role in bringing Sen. Isakson on board with the New START Treaty, will share tips and best practices.

To get call info, RSVP to kheald@nuclearweaponsfree.org

Though the United States was the first country to sign the CTBT in 1996, it has since failed to ratify the treaty. The CTBT has now been signed by 182 nations and ratified by 153 including Russia and U.S. allies. The CTBT will not go into effect, however, until it is ratified by nine additional specific countries including the United States, China, India and Indonesia. U.S. ratification would spur these key counties to ratify and would reinforce the global taboo against nuclear testing (quoted from WAND.org).

To learn more about CTBT, click here to read about ongoing CTBT initiatives.

Local middle and high school students performed retellings of stories written by Hiroshima victims. Ranging from eighth graders to seniors in high school, two of whom learned English as a second language, these performers captured the voice and spirit of the stories they read. Alice Lovelace and Theresa Davis shared poetry that spoke to the heart of peace and nuclear disarmament. Alice Lovelace shared the poem she wrote dedicated to Georgia WAND, inspired by her public arts project entitled “Harriet Rising.” Theresa Davis captured the audience with her poem entitled “Enola Gay,” which imagines the story of the woman whose son painted her name the B-29 bomber that dropped the A-Bomb on Hiroshima. David Rothauser shared clips from his documentary Hibakusha, Our Life to Live. The attention was then turned to the audience, as viewers were invited to ask questions to both David Rothauser and Elizabeth Baldwin, who provided the translation into English from the original survivors’ stories written in Japanese.

The next day, Rothauser’s film was screened in full at the Atlanta Friends Meeting House to an audience of 30 supporters.

To conclude Seeds of Peace, the Rose Garden Remembrance Ceremony in honor of Nagasaki was held at the Carter Center on August 9th. Gatherers joined hands around the rose garden, sang songs accompanied by guitars and accordions, and everyone offered their own hopes and ideas for a future of peace. Georgia WAND would like to especially thank the Atlanta Friends Meeting House for hosting the film screening, The King Center for co-sponsoring Visions and Voices of Peace,  Nuclear Watch South, the students and poets who performed at Visions and Voices of Peace, the Band of Desperate Men for their musical performance, Elizabeth Baldwin for her work in translating the survivors’ stories, and Krista Brewer for hosting David Rothauser. Check out links to media coverage of Seeds of Peace below!

Teens observe 66th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing

Teens and War: First-Hand Account of Hiroshima Bombings

With the administration now pursuing a quiet effort to engage and educate on the CTBT to help lay the groundwork for eventual Senate reconsideration and approval, there will be a few opportunities from time to time to make points about the value and the wisdom of Senate reconsideration and ratification of the CTBT. Let’s start now!

With recent press coverage and op-eds in the Columbus Post-Dispatch, LA Times, and Associated Press, NOW is the time to build momentum and raise awareness on this vital treaty via letter’s to the editor, blog posts and more!

Want more information on CTBT? Check out National WAND’s CTBT Fact sheet—everything you need to know about the treaty.

Need tips on writing a letter to the Editor or Op-Ed? Use the  Project for the CTBT’s LTE Tip Sheet, sponsored by the Arms Control Association, for tips, tools and guidance.

Letters to the AJC can be sent to letters@ajc.com

For the first time, the Nuclear Threat Initiative's documentary, Nuclear Tipping Point is available online.

The film will be broadcast here October 21 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm. If you haven't seen Nuclear Tipping Point, this is a great opportunity hear national security experts weigh in on nuclear weapons and learn what you can do to help reduce nuclear dangers.

The film features Formers Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State George Schultz, former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry and former Senator Sam Nunn and explores the issues that propelled them to write two op-eds for the Wall Street Journal in support of a nuclear weapons free world.

This movie highlights the global nuclear threat and spells out, in chilling terms, the danger facing everyone if nuclear weapons end up in the hands of terrorists or explode by accident. The film conveys a powerful yet simple message that nuclear weapons are no longer acceptable and should become a part of our past.

The film premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival, was a hit at the TED Conference and made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival. Produced by Lawrence Bender (producer of Academy Award-winning films An Inconvenient Truth and Inglorious Bastards), and co-financed by Participant Media and, Ploughshares Fund grantee, World Security Institute.

Watch the trailer here!

See the movie, bring friends and spread the word!

What: Film viewing of Countdown to Zero

When: August 1 at 2pm OR August 5 at 7pm

Where: Landmark Midtown Arts Cinema, 931 Monroe Circle NE, Atlanta GA 30308

RESERVE your tickets by emailing nichole@wand.org with your full name, telephone number, preferred date (AUGUST 1 at 2pm or AUGUST 5 at 7pm) and the number of tickets requested (one or two). Please note the "h" in the spelling of Nichole...would hate to have your email bounce! As always, you're welcome to call the Georgia WAND office with any questions: 404-524-5999.

July 13, 2010

I have always believed that mankind is destined for the stars. Even as I write this I am trying to figure it out. Our technology seems to be on an ever-accelerating curve. Toward what?

We’ve cracked the genetic code. We’ve looked into the heart of matter itself. We’re on the verge of creating artificial life. Why not the stars? This is no longer science fiction. Scientists are already probing the heavens for habitable environments in other solar systems. They find, on average, one new planet a week.

NASA recently developed an infrared telescope that can see to the edge of the universe and watch suns like our own being born. What is to prevent us from reaching them? Only ourselves. But as we reach out for the distant stars, we seem hell-bent on self-destruction here on earth. At the top of the list: our obsession with nuclear weapons.

We could survive the detonation of one or two nuclear bombs, but there are thousands of them in the world, and if one is launched, others are likely to follow. If humanity is to survive, we must prevent a massive nuclear exchange, and the only way to do this is to lower the total number of nuclear bombs in the world. The vast majority of them are in Russia and the U.S., so that’s the place to start.

Ronald Reagan recognized this and began the process with the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. START was signed in July 1991 and successfully reduced the danger of a single arbitrary or accidental firing igniting a nuclear holocaust. It in no way diminished the ability of either the U.S. or Russia to defend itself. If it had neither country would have signed it.

Meanwhile, former Sens. Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar — one a Democrat from Georgia and the other a Republican from Indiana — have worked together to secure loose nuclear material, nuclear bombs and other weapons of mass destruction where ever they are found. Some weapons were destroyed; some were placed under greater security. This was successful because no nation wants their most dangerous weapons vulnerable to theft or accident.

The U.S. would be a much safer place today except for two things. The first is the rise of terrorism, and the second is the fracturing of bipartisanship within the U.S.

START 1 expired in December of last year. In April of this year, President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart signed the New START Treaty. However, before it goes into effect, the treaty must be ratified by the U.S. Senate, and today, the Senate is no longer the deliberative body it once was. It has been reduced to two warring parties.

There was a time when partisanship stopped at the nation’s borders. I fear that’s not so today. I’m afraid the treaty may suffer the fate of so many proposals today: If one side is for it, the other will be against it. This must not happen with START.

Al-Qaida is seeking nuclear capacity. It won’t get their bomb as sovereign nations do, through research and development. Al-Qaida will steal it.

There is a well-documented international black market in nuclear materials, so it’s only a matter of time until al-Qaida succeeds. That is, unless Russia and the United States cooperate by continuing to reduce their nuclear arsenals, to completely secure those that are left and put pressure other nuclear nations to do likewise.

When Obama signed the new START agreement April 8, he was following in the footsteps of Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush Sr. It’s now the job of the Senate to put this new treaty into force by ratifying it.

I pray Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss will do their part. A future in space is my vision, but if we’re to have any future at all, we need everybody’s help.

Joan King is a long time, active member of Georgia WAND and writer for the Gainesville Time.

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/35242/

I had an amazing trip to New York City from April 30-May 10.  I met up with Elizabeth Baldwin and Steve Leeper, Director of the Hiroshima Peace Culture foundation in Hiroshima, Japan and along with thousands of anti-nuclear advocates participated in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

Prior to the beginning of the conference there was an International Conference for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World hosted by the Social Justice Ministry of The Riverside Church. Over 1000 people came together from all over the world to declare their support for a Nuclear Weapons Convention calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020.  Leadership came from Abolition 2000, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND), Mayors for Peace, Women’s Interantional League for Peace & Freedom, Reaching Critical Will, International Peace Bureau, International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility, Western States Legal Foundation, United for Peace and Justice, Le Mouvement de la Paix, Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, American Friends Service Committee,  Centro Brasileiro de Solidariedade aos Povos e Luta pela Paz, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Peace Boat, Bombspotting,  Global Family, International Peace Bureau, Peace Action, , Emil Touma Institue for Palestinian and Israli Studies, International Association of Peace Messneger Cities, Veterans for Peace, Beyond Nuclear, Pax Christi, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, United Methodist General Board of Church & Society, New Zealand Foundation for Peace, Nevada Desert experience, and a host of others. I, along with Kathernine West from Arkansas and Betsy Rivard from Atlantat held up the Southeast WAND presence.

On Sunday May 2 thousands of us marched from Times Square to the United Nations with banners declaring our desire to live in a nuclear weapons-free world.

I’ll have more of a report posted on our new website next week.  Right now we’re busy  preparing for Mother’s Day for Peace at Spelman College. I sure hope you can come.  We will celebrate some shared environmental wins and honor the service of Dianne Valentin, the courage of Annie Laura Stephens and the activism of Jeannine Honicker.  And environmental justice shero, Dr Mildred McClain, from Harambee House in Savannah will address us and, no doubt, rock the house.  It’s all at Spelman’s Cosby Center on Sunday May 23 at 4pm.  Please send it and joy some good food  a glass of wine or iced tea and the assembly of women and men for peace and preservation of Mother Earth!

Bobbie

*******************
Bobbie Paul
Executive Director
Georgia Women's Action for New Directions

On February 18, 2010 Vice President Biden renewed the administration's commitment to the reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons with these words:

"The spread of nuclear weapons is the greatest threat facing the country and, I would argue, facing humanity. And that is why we're working both to stop their proliferation and eventually to eliminate them."

We should keep in mind that our Senators can take steps toward preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, and keeping us safer. The Senate will soon consider two treaties:

• The new START treaty requires both the U.S. and Russia to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in their arsenals.
• The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) prevents other states from conducting the tests that could lead to new and more deadly weapons.

Our Senators have no reason NOT to ratify these treaties. The U.S. gave up testing almost 20 years ago. It is time we ratified the CTBT to put pressure on others, like China, to ratify. The START agreement will ensure there isn't a new arms race between the U.S. and Russia and will shrink the possibility that loose Russian nukes someday fall into the hands of terrorists and help prevent other accidents that would have devastating consequences.

• Read a transcript of the speech here.Take action!
• Visit www.wandactioncenter.org to send an email to the President, Congress, and your local media.
• Organize a meeting with your Senators and Representative while they are at home. We'll provide you with plenty of help to do this! For more information, contact Georgia WAND (404) 524-5999.

Now is the Time to Seize the Prize -- End nuclear explosions!

The nuclear Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) has aptly been called "the longest-sought, hardest-fought prize in the history of arms control.[1] Indeed, people all over the world began to voice concerns about nuclear tests soon after the beginning of the nuclear age in 1945; Eisenhower was the first U.S. President to call for an end to nuclear tests. After many starts and stops over the past 60 years, we now have both an opportunity and an urgent need finally to seize this prize. It is time for the United States to ratify this treaty, permanently ending nuclear test explosions worldwide.

Women Strike for Peace protesting at the Nevada Test Site; the group was founded in 1961 with a call to end nuclear testing.

Today, this treaty is more important than ever. The CTBT would impede the ability of nuclear-armed countries to perfect new and more deadly nuclear bombs, and would help prevent new nuclear weapons programs. U.S. ratification would clearly demonstrate renewed leadership on the world’s most pressing security threats -- stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and preventing nuclear terrorism. U.S. ratification of the CTBT would strengthen international support for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the bedrock of all efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. In 1995, the nuclear powers, including the U.S., promised to deliver on the CTBT in exchange for indefinite extension of the NPT. Nations are waiting for the U.S. to ratify the CTBT, and will be looking for progress at the 2010 NPT Review Conference. Treaty benefits are clearer as technical advances overcome previous concerns. In 1999, the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the CTBT after a brief debate; many Senators who voted “no” expressed concerns about the ability of the U.S. to maintain its arsenal in the absence of testing, and about the ability to verify compliance with the treaty. Today, many of these concerns have been overcome. We have seen technical advances in global verification measures, as well as demonstrated maintenance of the existing U.S. nuclear arsenal in the absence of testing.

Maintaining Existing Nuclear Weapons: In 1992, President George H.W. Bush halted nuclear testing; the U.S. has not conducted a nuclear weapons test explosion since. However, every year since 1994, each warhead type in the arsenal has undergone a rigorous evaluation and been certified safe and reliable. With the Stockpile Stewardship Program, the U.S. arsenal has been maintained with non-nuclear tests and evaluations along with replacement or remanufacture of components based upon existing design specifications. In 2002, a National Academies of Sciences panel found that the Stockpile Stewardship Program, with adequate resources and proper focus, would continue to maintain confidence in the safety and reliability of existing U.S. nuclear weapons. The NAS panel noted that age-related defects mainly related to non-nuclear components can be expected, "but nuclear testing is not needed to discover these problems and is not likely to be needed to address them."[2]

Monitoring Tests and Verifying Compliance: The U.S. capability to detect and deter possible clandestine nuclear testing by other states would be far better with the CTBT in force. The CTBT would make it possible to do short-notice, on-site inspections, and would maintain long-term political and financial support from other nations for the operation of the CTBT’s International Monitoring System (IMS) and InternationalDataCenter.  Although in 1999 some critics claimed that these extensive monitoring systems could only monitor for underground explosions at yields at or above one kiloton TNT equivalent, actual capabilities were much better and have only improved since then. For example, when North Korea conducted a test explosion in October 2006, the IMS easily detected the relatively low-yield (0.6 kiloton) blast.  In the March 2009 Scientific American, experts concluded that "detecting a test of a nuclear weapons has become so effective and reliable that no nation could expect to get away with secretly exploding a device having military significance."[3] This treaty has strong and growing support. The CTBT has been signed by 180 nations, and ratified by 148 including all NATO countries and other key U.S. allies. [4] An array of bi-partisan military experts and senior statesmen supports the CTBT. In 2007, former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense William Perry, and former Senator Sam Nunn (GA), called for the Senate to re-examine and ratify the treaty. Former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- including Generals John Shalikashvili, Colin Powell, David Jones and Admiral William Crowe -- also support the CTBT. Public support for the nuclear test ban has remained high since the early days of the Cold War. A 2004 public opinion poll found that 87 percent of respondents support U.S. ratification of the CTBT. Finally, the Obama administration has stated its firm commitment to pursue ratification of the CTBT.

To achieve a global ban on nuclear testing, my Administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. After more than five decades of talks, it is time for the testing of nuclear weapons to finally be banned. --President Barack Obama, April 5, 2009

Now is the time to act. The U.S. has no need to resume nuclear tests. Nor is there political support for renewed U.S. nuclear testing. It is in the national security interest to prevent nuclear weapons testing by others.   If the Senate fails to fulfill its commitment to ratify the CTBT, U.S. efforts to call on other states to take on additional responsibilities and commitments and sustain the beleaguered nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty will be severely weakened. A number of unwelcome consequences are the likely result of failure to achieve this treaty. For example: countries observing a unilateral moratorium may resume nuclear testing; modernization of China’s nuclear arsenal is more likely and this would likely fuel a broader arms race; nuclear tests and unchecked competition between India and Pakistan could risk nuclear war. In contrast, U.S. leadership to end nuclear testing will strengthen the Nonproliferation Treaty and worldwide efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and lay the foundation for beginning work to achieve a safer world free of nuclear weapons.   U.S. ratification of the CTBT requires the support of 67 Senators. Achievement of ratification is more likely as a result of the 2008 elections. Leadership of the President must be joined with a robust and sustained citizens' campaign.

If you'd like to help with the effort to permanently end nuclear test explosions, contact Georgia WAND at georgiawand@wand.org