Obama presses review of nuclear strategy

[kpete]

Source: Boston Globe

Obama presses review of nuclear strategy
Pentagon is rethinking the unthinkable: Making major changes to Cold War arsenal
By Bryan Bender

CHARLIE MISSILE ALERT FACILITY, Mont. - After an hourlong ride down a nearly deserted highway covered in ice and snow, the two young officers arrive for their shift at this highly secure outpost deep in the northern Rockies.

Air Force Captain Chris Ferrer and Lieutenant Moses George, carrying a bulky orange briefcase of secret codes, descend some 75 feet underground to a capsule protected by a 4-foot-thick door of steel and concrete. They will spend the next 24 hours ready to receive a presidential command to launch dozens of nuclear missiles from silos buried across north-central Montana.

It is a routine that is virtually unchanged from the 1960s. The targets, most of them in Russia, also remain largely unchanged from the Cold War. And there are few signs that will change anytime soon. “We’re not going anywhere for decades to come,’’ predicted the two officers’ boss, Lieutenant Colonel Pete Bonetti, 41, of Providence.

But top US officials are now questioning why the United States still pursues a strategy based on the ability to annihilate its former foe. In a thorough review expected to be completed early this year, the size, structure, and even the very mission of America’s nuclear arsenal are being reconsidered as part of President Obama’s pledge to reduce the role of the world’s most deadly weapons.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/01/03/obama_presses_review_of_nuclear_strategy/

[CLANG]

1. Why does a Obama hate America?

:sarcasm: (just in case it wasn't obvious)

[bananas]

2. Good - From the January 2010 Scientific American Magazine:

From the January 2010 Scientific American Magazine:

The Nuclear Doomsday Clock Still Ticks
As long as opportunities and excuses for nuclear aggression persist, the world will never be safe from annihilation
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-doomsday-clock-still-ticks

South Asian Threat? Local Nuclear War = Global Suffering ( Preview )
Worry has focused on the U.S. versus Russia, but a regional nuclear war between India and Pakistan could blot out the sun, starving much of the human race
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=local-nuclear-war

Some other articles:

Soaring, Cryptography and Nuclear Weapons
Google Tech Talk May 7, 2009 Presented by Martin Hellman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1xnM3bbkCg&feature=channel

Defusing the nuclear threat
(Martin Hellman's website)
http://nuclearrisk.org/
The risk of a nuclear catastrophe is far greater than we think.
Our ability to reduce that risk is far greater than we imagine.

The Paper: "Risk Analysis of Nuclear Deterrence" was published in the Spring 2008 issue of the magazine of the national engineering honor society, The Bent of Tau Beta Pi.
Download PDF (1.8 MB) ›› http://nuclearrisk.org/paper.pdf

Nuclear winter revisited (Jeff Masters' WunderBlog)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x193139

Climatic Consequences of Nuclear Conflict
Alan Robock
Department of Environmental Sciences
Rutgers University
http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/nuclear/