In response to misplaced concern about the long-term reliability of the nuclear arsenal, the Obama administration sent Congress a budget request for the nuclear weapons complex bigger than anything the nukes-loving Bush administration tried to push through. Despite scientific evidence that current programs can ensure a safe and reliable stockpile, the administration is increasing nuclear weapons complex funding by 10% to appease critics of broader nonproliferation efforts like the New START agreement and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In a congressionally mandated report, the administration announced its intent to spend $180 billion over the next ten years to “modernize” the nuclear weapons complex and delivery systems. This massive spending contradicts the vision of moving toward a world free of nuclear weapons, and is disconcerting as domestic spending programs like education are subject to a spending freeze. In this context, a new GAO report about cost overruns by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is particularly alarming.

For the past two years, I’ve been blogging on nuclear weapons news, from our success in defeating the Bush administration’s push for new nuclear weapons to the New START treaty to cut US and Russian nuclear arsenals, which is awaiting ratification by the US Senate. It’s been a great experience.

I’m moving on to attend graduate school and so in my final blog post, I wanted to remind our Groundswell readers to keep checking in for the latest news on nukes. Our new Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World coordinator Katie Heald will be taking my spot on the blog. She’ll keep you up to date on what you can do to encourage your senators to ratify the New START treaty, as well as how you can help our ongoing efforts to cut the bloated $180 billion for nuclear weapons and facilities being considered for the next decade. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for Katie’s blog posts!

Incredibly, it’s true. The Government Accountability Office just discovered (pdf) that the agency charged with managing the US nuclear stockpile is pretty much making up the numbers as they go along.

For instance, when the National Nuclear Security Administration asked Congress for millions of dollars to maintain weapons activities in 2009, they ended up spending well into the billions. From the GAO report:

As reported above, when we asked, not all M&O contractors determined the total cost to operate and maintain weapons activities facilities and infrastructure at their sites. However, for the six contractors that did so, the cost to fully operate and maintain weapons activities facilities and infrastructure greatly exceeded the amount of funding for RTBF Operations of Facilities in fiscal year 2009. Congressionally directed RTBF Operations of Facilities funding for these six sites in fiscal year 2009 totaled approximately $558.6 million, but their estimated fiscal 2009 expenditures for this work scope drawn from all funding sources totaled approximately $1.1 billion.

I was 17 the first time I took a stand against nuclear weapons.

The US was planning to build the neutron bomb near my hometown in Colorado, and I was outraged at the risk the bomb plant posed to the health of families living near the plant. I was sickened to think that a bomb built near my home could be used to kill many thousands of people. I knew I had to do something.

These many years later, I know how important our voices were in helping to close the Rocky Flats Plant near Denver. Today it is so important we not forget our collective power to make change.

A major nuclear agreement between the US and Russia, called New START (The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is awaiting approval from the Russian Parliament and US Senate.

The treaty calls for reductions in the sizes of US and Russian nuclear arsenals, as well as an increase in information sharing between the two nations. The original START expired last December, along with the framework it provided for verifying that each nation was in keeping with the agreement. The new agreement will replace the expired one, and the verification measures have provided a backdrop of urgency in ensuring the treaty passes. Since December, there have been no “boots on the ground” inspecting Russian arsenals. Sen. Dick Lugar, a leading Republican in favor of the treaty, had this to say: