Nuclear weapons threaten every city on the planet with staggering humanitarian, environmental and economic loss. So long as they exist we will never be safe.
30 years ago, there were 70,300 nuclear weapons on the planet. Today, an estimated 14,485 nuclear weapons remain. By 2030, we could remove all nuclear weapons from military service and consign them to the dustbin of history.
Working with political leaders, senior military commanders and national security experts from across the political spectrum and in every nuclear-armed region of the world, we are working to achieve historic Global Zero Accords that would ensure that all nuclear weapons are permanently dismantled.
We live in an unprecedented moment in time: The world has never faced so many simultaneous conflicts and crises that could erupt into nuclear conflict.
In the face of these rising dangers, Global Zero launched the Nuclear Crisis Group: an elite international task force dedicated to preventing crises from escalating to nuclear warfare. Every day, we’re working to reduce these risks by focusing public and media attention on the risks, and by putting forward workable, politically viable ideas from the most experienced diplomats, nuclear commanders and national security experts on the planet.
Since its launch in Paris in 2008, Global Zero has grown to include hundreds of eminent political, military and civic leaders and hundreds of thousands of engaged citizens globally. By combining cutting-edge policy analysis, backchannel diplomacy, media outreach and public engagement, we’re blazing a trail for governments to follow — one that leads to the lasting peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.
In this interview with Bulletin editor-in-chief John Mecklin, Jon Wolfsthal provides his wide-ranging views on the current nuclear situation, how the new Congress might deal with US plans for a $1 trillion-plus modernization of the American nuclear arsenal, and ways the inordinate cost of that modernization program might be reduced.
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The notion that Mattis, a former four-star Marine Corps general, could have blocked or defied a move by Trump to impulsively launch nuclear weapons may have seemed comforting, but it shouldn’t have been. The secretary of defense has no legal position in the nuclear chain of command, and any attempts by a secretary of defense to prevent the president from exercising the authority to use nuclear weapons would be undemocratic and illegal.
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