Ploughshares Fund grantees call for swift reduction in nuclear arsenal

The Nuclear Weapons Complex Consolidation Policy Network (NWCCPN) has released a new study, Transforming the U.S. Strategic Posture and Weapons Complex for Transition to a Nuclear Weapons-Free-World.  The study provides the roadmap for a large and swift reduction in the nation’s nuclear weapons and the sprawling government complex that develops and produces them. Contributors to the report include several Ploughshares grantees, such as Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Tri-Valley CAREs, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Project on Government Oversight. The project is supported by the Connect U.S. Fund. Read the full report.

The study argues for a tenfold reduction in the nation’s active nuclear weapons stockpile, to 500 deployed nuclear warheads by 2015, supported by a weapons complex reduced from the current eight sites in seven states to just three sites in two states, Texas and New Mexico. Christopher Paine of the Ploughshares-funded National Resources Defense Council and a co-author of the report, noted, "If we want to regain the world’s cooperation in a serious global effort to prevent further nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear terrorism, we have to get serious about demonstrating that we are willing to radically reduce and ultimately forego reliance on these terrible weapons, in concert with other nations.” Other Ploughshares grantees agreed.