Friends,

There has been lots of buzz lately about whether the United States has conducted nuclear tests over the past year.  Yes Virginia, the US did, in fact, conduct tests intended to make sure that those thousands of nasty nukes in its arsenal will perform as they are designed should someone actually be crazy enough to launch one.

Of course, there was no mushroom cloud like the bad old days of atmospheric testing, or seismographic mayhem that was a telltale sign of underground tests of yore.  Over the decades since the beginning of the nuclear age the U.S. conducted 1030 tests involving the detonation of a nuclear device (215 atmospherice and 815 underground) up until 1992.

Today the House voted on a slew of amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act, a bill authorizing hundreds of billions of dollars for the Pentagon and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for fiscal year 2012. This provided a great opportunity for our allies in Congress to work to impact key issues like military spending, the wars in Afghanistan and Libya, nuclear weapons and more.

The biggest story out the House today is the growth in support for ending the war in Afghanistan. Efforts to end the war in Afghanistan got more votes than ever before, and key members of the Democratic leadership Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer spoke in favor of the McGovern/Jones amendment to set a timeline for withdrawal. This sends a clear message to the administration at a critical time. The Pentagon is pushing for an insignificant withdrawal in July, and President Obama needs strong support to move toward a serious, sizable withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Undersecretary of State Ellen Tauscher spoke last week at the Arms Control Association’s Annual Meeting.

This was the most detailed and substantive address to date by a senior Barack Obama administration official about the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, according to the Project for the CTBT. Undersecretary Tauscher made it clear that the administration would soon be launching an effort to educate Senators on the CTBT and provide updated answers to some of the concerns that were raised during the 1999 debate on the treaty.

Here is the complete video of the Undersecretary’s remarks:

Friends,

Not too long ago Steven Starr summarized our challenges in communicating the issues surrounding nuclear weapons to the public, and how we need to communicate in order to get people’s attention and get them engaged with this most important of issues.  Essentially, we need to engage people both emotionally and intellectually regarding the potential effects of nuclear weapons as well as the huge economic costs.  It’s serious food for thought.
Peace,

Leonard

P.S. – Be sure to check out Steven’s Website, Nuclear Darkness.

Republican Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) is threatening to take $500 million worth of food away from poor children because “we can’t afford it.” But Congress manages to find billions to spend on nuclear weapons every single year. I want to change those priorities, don’t you?

Because thousands of you spoke out earlier this month, together we got Congress to protect funding for nonproliferation programs. The final budget for 2011 provided a $190 million increase for programs that lock up nuclear bomb-grade material around the world, a major accomplishment when the Republicans were fighting to cut almost everything. Thank you!

Can you help us build on that success by telling Congress to block wasteful spending on nuclear bombs and new bomb factories in 2012? Please click here to contact Congress today.