Scientists' Statement on U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy
Toward True Security
April 2008
The United States must profoundly change its nuclear weapons policy to reflect the realities of today's world, and future challenges to the nation's security. Indeed, the United States can proactively shape its nuclear future, rather than anticipate the worst and hedge against it.
Unfortunately, the United States is headed in the wrong direction: its nuclear weapons policy threatens its own security, and that of other nations. Their responses, in turn, will further undermine U.S. security.
By maintaining thousands of highly accurate nuclear weapons on alert, the United States perpetuates the only threat that could destroy it as a functioning society: a large-scale attack by Russia launched either without authorization, by accident, or by mistake because of a false warning of an incoming U.S. attack.
By giving nuclear weapons so large and visible a role in U.S. policy, and by planning to maintain and even upgrade its nuclear arsenal indefinitely, the United States has increased the incentive for other nations to acquire nuclear weapons, and reduced the political costs to them of doing so. The United States has further bolstered this incentive by threatening to use nuclear weapons against states that do not possess them.
By contributing to a climate in which possessing nuclear weapons is legitimate, the United States has also undermined the ability of the international community to prevent more states from acquiring them. And while the political barriers to acquiring these weapons are crumbling, technical barriers are also falling. The world could soon face a spate of new nuclear weapons states.
Indeed, during the past decade, several nations have crossed the nuclear threshold by testing nuclear weapons, or are now suspected of having nuclear weapons programs. Some of these states are politically unstable, increasing the risks that these weapons will be used, and that terrorists will acquire nuclear weapons.
The world will stay on this course as long as the United States and the other nuclear powers —Britain, China, France, and Russia—assume that nuclear weapons are essential to their security. To avoid a new and more dangerous nuclear era, these states must drastically reduce the role that nuclear weapons play in their security policies. The United States can, and should, take the lead in promoting an effort to clear the path to a world free of nuclear weapons.
There is no plausible threat over the next decade or beyond that requires the United States to maintain more than a few hundred survivable nuclear weapons. There is also no military reason to link the size of U.S. nuclear forces to those of other countries. Nor does any plausible threat require the United States to retain the ability to launch nuclear weapons in a matter of minutes, or even hours.
Four of the most seasoned architects of U.S. national security policy—George Shultz, Secretary of State under President Reagan; William Perry, Secretary of Defense under President Clinton; Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford; and Sam Nunn, former Senator from Georgia—have forcefully articulated the need for a new approach. They argue that the United States should embrace the goal of a "world free of nuclear weapons" as a vital contribution to preventing more nations, and eventually terrorists, from acquiring nuclear weapons.[1]
In short, it is time for a change.
The next president should bring U.S. nuclear weapons policy into line with today's political and strategic realities by taking 10 critical, unilateral steps. These steps are practical and pragmatic: they would increase U.S. security by decreasing the risks of a Russian nuclear attack, nuclear proliferation, and nuclear terrorism. These steps would also lay the groundwork for a world without nuclear weapons, and enable the United States to lead other nations in that direction:
1. Declare that the sole purpose of U.S. nuclear weapons is to deter and, if necessary, respond to the use of nuclear weapons by another country.
2. Reject rapid-launch options by changing its deployment practices to allow the launch of nuclear forces in days rather than minutes.
3. Eliminate preset targeting plans, and replace them with the capability to promptly develop a response tailored to the situation if nuclear weapons are used against the United States, its armed forces, or its allies.
4. Promptly and unilaterally reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal to no more than 1,000 warheads, including deployed and reserve warheads. The United States would declare all warheads above this level to be in excess of its military needs, move them into storage, begin dismantling them in a manner transparent to the international community, and begin disposing—under international safeguards—of all plutonium and highly enriched uranium beyond that required to maintain these 1,000 warheads. By making the endpoint of this dismantlement process dependent on Russia's response, the United States would encourage Russia to reciprocate.
5. Halt all programs for developing and deploying new nuclear weapons, including the proposed Reliable Replacement Warhead.
6. Promptly and unilaterally retire all U.S. nonstrategic nuclear weapons, dismantling them in a transparent manner, and take steps to induce Russia to do the same.
7. Announce a U.S. commitment to reducing its number of nuclear weapons further, on a negotiated and verified bilateral or multilateral basis.
8. Commit to not resume nuclear testing, and work with the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
9. Halt further deployment of the Ground-Based Missile Defense, and drop any plans for space-based missile defense. The deployment of a U.S. missile defense system that Russia or China believed could intercept a significant portion of its survivable long-range missile forces would be an obstacle to deep nuclear cuts. A U.S. missile defense system could also trigger reactions by these nations that would result in a net decrease in U.S. security.
10. Reaffirm the U.S. commitment to pursue nuclear disarmament, and present a specific plan for moving toward that goal, in recognition of the fact that a universal and verifiable prohibition on nuclear weapons would enhance both national and international security.
If the next president takes these steps, the United States will have greatly enhanced national and international security, while also setting the stage for negotiations to reduce the nuclear arsenals of other countries. Together with these nations, the United States can then tackle the challenges entailed in negotiating and implementing verifiable, multilateral reductions to levels well below 1,000 nuclear warheads—thereby laying the groundwork for an eventual worldwide prohibition on nuclear weapons.
List of Signatories
* = Nobel Prize
+ = National Medal of Science
# = Member, National Academy of Sciences
Organizational affiliations listed for identification purposes only.
Elihu Abrahams #
Director, Center for Materials Theory, Department of Physics and Astronomy Rutgers University
Alexei A. Abrikosov * #
Distinguished Argonne Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory
Eric Adelberger #
Professor of Physics, University of Washington
Stephen Adler #
Professor, Institute for Advanced Study
Guenther Ahlers #
Professor, Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Philip W. Anderson * + #
Joseph Henry Professor of Physics, Princeton University
David Arnett #
Regents Professor of Astrophysics, University of Arizona
Gordon Baym #
George and Ann Fisher Distinguished Professor of Engineering; Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Roger Blandford #
Pehong and Adele Chen Director, Kavli Institute of Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Luke Blossom Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University
Lewis M. Branscomb #
Aetna Professor in Public Policy and Corporate Management, Emeritus; Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government
Richard G. Brewer #
Consulting Professor of Applied Physics, Stanford University
David M. Ceperley #
Professor of Physics, Founder Professor of Engineering, NCSA Staff scientist, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Marshall H. Cohen #
Professor of Astronomy, Emeritus, California Institute of Technology
Stirling A. Colgate #
Senior Fellow, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Eugene D. Commins #
Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
Leon Cooper * #
Thomas J. Watson Sr., Professor of Science; Director, Institute for Brain and Neural Systems, Brown University
Stanley Deser #
Ancell Professor of Physics, Brandeis University, and Visiting Associate in Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology
Bruce T. Draine #
Professor, Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University
Freeman Dyson #
Professor Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study
Michael E. Fisher #
Distinguished University Professor and Regents Professor, University of Maryland
Hans Frauenfelder #
Director, Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Lab
Jerome I. Friedman * #
Institute Professor and Professor of Physics Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Gerald Gabrielse #
George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Physics, Harvard University
Mary K. Gaillard #
Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
Richard L. Garwin + #
Fellow Emeritus, IBM Corporation
Howard Georgi #
Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics; Harvard College Professor, Harvard University
Sheldon L. Glashow * #
Arthur Metcalf Professor of the Sciences, Boston University
Marvin Goldberger #
President Emeritus, California Institute of Technology
David J. Gross * #
Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Martin Gutzwiller #
IBM Research Emeritus, Adjunct Professor of Yale University
Willy Haeberli #
Professor of Physics Emeritus and Senior Scientist, University of Wisconsin
Erwin L. Hahn #
Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
John L. Hall * #
Fellow Adjoint of JILA and Professor Adjoint of Physics, University of Colorado
Bertrand I. Halperin #
Hollis Professor of Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy, Harvard University
Carl Heiles #
Professor of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley
Ernest Henley #
Professor Emeritus, University of Washington
Pierre Hohenberg #
Professor of Physics, Senior Vice Provost for Research, New York University
J. David Jackson #
Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
Leo P. Kadanoff + #
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Distinguished Service Professor of Physics and Mathematics, Emeritus University of Chicago
Wolfgang Ketterle * #
John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
H. Jeff Kimble #
William L. Valentine Professor and Professor of Physics, California Institute of Technology
Ivan King #
Research Professor, University of Washington and Professor of Astronomy Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
Toichiro Kinoshita #
Goldwin Smith Professor of Physics Emeritus, Cornell University
Daniel Kleppner + #
Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics, Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Walter Kohn * #
Research Professor of Physics and Chemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara
Lawrence Krauss
Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy, and Director, Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics, Case Western Reserve University
James Langer #
Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Leon M. Lederman * + #
Director Emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Pritzker Professor of Science at Illinois Institute of Technology
David M. Lee * #
Professor, Low Temperature Physics, Cornell University
Sir Anthony J. Leggett * #
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor and Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Tom C. Lubensky #
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania
Paul C. Martin #
John H. Van Vleck Professor of Pure and Applied Physics, Harvard University
Christopher F. McKee #
Professor of Physics and of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley
N. David Mermin #
Horace White Professor of Physics Emeritus, Cornell University
Albert Narath
Former President and Director, Sandia National Laboratories
Jerry E. Nelson #
Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz
Douglas D. Osheroff * #
Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, Stanford University
Eugene N. Parker + #
S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Departments of Physics and Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago
Arno Penzias * #
New Enterprise Associates
Martin L. Perl * #
Professor, Stanford University
David Pines #
Distinguished Professor of Physics, University of California, Davis
Robert O. Pohl #
Goldwin Smith Professor of Physics Emeritus, Cornell University
Joseph Polchinski #
Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
H. David Politzer *
Richard Chace Tolman Professor of Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology
David E. Pritchard #
Cecil & Ida Green Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Helen R. Quinn #
Professor of Physics, Stanford University
Norman F. Ramsey * + #
Higgins Professor of Physics, Emeritus, Harvard University
Burton Richter * #
Paul Pigott Professor of Physical Sciences Emeritus, Stanford University
Vera C. Rubin + #
Senior Fellow, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Malvin A. Ruderman #
Centennial Professor of Physics and Professor of Applied Physics, Columbia University
Edwin E. Salpeter #
James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor of the Physical Sciences, Emeritus, Cornell University
Myriam P. Sarachik #
Distinguished Professor of Physics, City College of New York, CUNY
John H. Schwarz #
Harold Brown Professor of Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology
Andrew Sessler #
Distinguished Emeritus Scientist and Distinguished Director Emeritus, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Y. Ron Shen #
Professor of Physics, University of California Berkeley
Melvyn J. Shochet #
Kersten Distinguished Service Professor of Physics, University of Chicago
David Spergel #
Charles Young Professor of Astronomy on the Class of 1897 Foundation, Princeton University
Charles Steidel #
Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
Horst Stormer * #
Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics, Columbia University
Leonard Susskind #
Felix Bloch Professor of Physics, Stanford University
Saul Teukolsky #
Hans A. Bethe Professor of Physics and Astrophysics, Cornell University
Maury Tigner #
Hans A. Bethe Professor of Physics Emeritus, Cornell University
Charles H. Townes * + #
University Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Scott Tremaine #
Richard Black Professor of Astrophysics, Institute for Advanced Study
George H. Trilling #
Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
J. Anthony Tyson #
Professor of Physics, University of California, Davis
George Wallerstein
Professor of Astronomy, Emeritus, University of Washington
Steven Weinberg * + #
Professor of Physics, University of Texas at Austin
Rainer Weiss #
Professor of Physics, Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ray J. Weymann #
Staff Member & Director Emeritus, Carnegie Observatories, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Frank Wilczek * #
Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Robert Wilson * #
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Bruce Winstein #
Samuel K. Allison Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Physics, University of Chicago
Lincoln Wolfenstein #
University Professor of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University
Bruno Zumino #
Professor, University of California Berkeley
Note
1. George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn, "A World Free of Nuclear Weapons," Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2007, p. A15.
