Transform Now Plowshares: The Sentencing Saga Begins...

Editor's Note:  Many thanks to Ralph Hutchison, of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA), for this detailed account of yesterday's sentencing hearing for the Transform Now Plowshares defendants - Greg, Megan and Michael. The proceedings ended prematurely due to weather conditions, and will be reconvene on February 18th.  You can keep up with Transform Now Plowshares at http://transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com/.  

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The sentencing hearing of Michael Walli, Greg Boertje-Obed and Megan Rice was interrupted by wintry weather—some might say providentially. Judge Amul Thapar announced at 1:15 that the federal courthouse was closing at 2:30pm because the accumulating snow promised to make travel treacherous. After a brief consultation among the attorneys it was decided they could not conclude the sentencing process by 2:30, so the Judge suspended the hearing; it is currently scheduled to resume February 18th at 9:00am in Knoxville.

The courtroom was full of supporters, and a second courtroom was pressed into service; that room filled and there were reports of people sitting on the floor to view the proceedings on a big-screen TV.

At 9:00am, the hearing opened with the judge hearing arguments about the amount of restitution that would be required of Megan, Greg and Michael. After hearing testimony from a B&W Y12 official, and a detailed cross examination, the judge heard brief arguments, overruled all defense objections, and set restitution at $52,953.00; he waived interest since the defendants were not in a position to pay it off immediately. How much the final assessment might actually be has yet to be determined—no one in the court could say for certain whether the government had, in fact, reimbursed B&W Y12 or Wackenhut for the items billed—if there was no reimbursement, the government can not claim restitution from the TNP three.

After a brief recess, court resumed with consideration of objections to the Presentencing Reports; the judge quickly sustained the defense's objection to the use of the word "maliciously" in the charge against Greg, Michael and Megan. There was a detailed discussion of whether or not the defendants had accepted responsibility for their actions. As in the trial, legal language bears only scant resemblance to common usage of words—accepting responsibility means pleading guilty and not putting the government to the trouble of a trial.

Assistant District Attorney Jeff Theodore used the occasion to go on a mini-rant about Ramsey Clark, from US Attorney General who testified in a pre-trial motions hearing in April. "On this issue, he has no credibility," Theodore said, ignoring Ramsey's own testimony that he was the AG when the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was signed. "He has represented just about every nefarious person out there," Theodore said, "Nazi war criminals, Saddam Hussein…he talked about war criminality at Y12!"

The judge cut him off. Francis Lloyd rose to address the record. Describing himself as a lawyer whose heroes include Clarence Darrow, he said no person should be faulted for taking any case. The judge tried to deflect Francis by reinterpreting Theodore's statements in a creatively favorable light.

The judge then danced around Francis' assertions that Megan, Michael and Greg, by submitting to arrest and admitting the particulars of their case amounted to accepting responsibility. "When you argue every element at every point, you're not accepting responsibility. You're asking the court to put a square peg in a round hole." The judge found his metaphor compelling and repeated it later. "I don't believe the defendants are contrite."

Francis pointed out that, in the history of law, it was only by repeatedly coming back to court with arguments again and again that bad law like Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned. "I get it," said the Judge.

The judge eventually ruled the TNP trio would not be given downward departures for acceptance of responsibility.

In the ensuing discussion about various cases and how they were interpreted, Judge Thapar in every instance chose the view most favorable to the prosecution, denying the defendants any benefit of the doubt, and stepping in to help the prosecution when it stumbled.

One issue raised by Greg Boertje-Obed was whether or not a nonviolent civil resistance action was "outside the heartland" of the sabotage law. The question is critical because circuit courts had ruled that if a law was being applied outside the primary purpose intended by Congress, "outside the heartland," the judge could take that into consideration at sentencing. Here's where it got surreal.

The prosecution argued, and the judge agreed, that since these kinds of cases—anti-nuclear actions—are the only kinds of cases where the law is being used at all, they must be the "heartland." Thapar said, "Congress and the [Sentencing Guideline] Commission has had plenty of time to change it if it doesn't like it." But in two of the three cases where the law was applied to anti-nuclear protesters, judges found at sentencing that it was "outside the heartland."

After some back and forth, the judge said he would not make a final decision at the moment, but would take it up during the discussion on reasons for variances.

The final point argued was about the defendants' "civic, charitable, public service," which can be taken into account. "But it has to be truly exceptional," said the judge, noting that for a billionaire to give millions to charity, it's not such a big deal. The fact that Michael, Greg and Megan have devoted their entire lives to civic, charitable public service did not seem to strike the judge as truly exceptional, but he allowed it could be taken up later, under "3553A factors."

It was 11:45, and Kathy Boylan took the stand. It was established that she has known Michael Walli for more than 20 years, sharing living space at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington, DC for most of that time, where people are "committed to looking at the suffering of the poor, to alleviate that suffering, to eliminate violence, and to work for peace."

Chris Irwin, Michael's attorney, asked Kathy to tell the court who Dorothy Day was and she provided a brief, succinct description of Dorothy's coming to terms with poverty and suffering by working to change conditions that created poverty and suffering. "Dorothy and Peter Maurin wanted to change society to serve the ideals of the kingdom of God," said Kathy.

"And if Michael were released, would you be prepared to help him reintegrate into society?" asked Chris. "We'd like to do it immediately," Kathy said instantly.

Chris: Is there anything else you'd like to tell the court?

Kathy: Michael is a beloved member of our community and a servant of God. Every morning, we walk down the street to pray with our friends at the Assissi house. They sent a letter I would like to read.

The letter explained that Michael joined in prayer every morning, and that was how they had come to know him. "He is an unwavering example of active nonviolence, generous, kind, helping in many ways, whether it is picking up litter or working in the garden. He is always willing to help others, especially those with special needs. Michael is a man of deep faith; he is a role model, a living example of the gospel."

Chris: Does he get paid?

Kathy: We get a $20 stipend, plus $10 for Metro.

Kathy went on to describe Michael's 2013 Pax Christi Peacemaker Award and the certificate was entered in evidence. Kathy then told of a one of the women who shares the house with them, a woman from Ethiopia who is working hard to learn English. "One day she asked me, because she didn't understand this word, 'What is generosity?' The answer came to me immediately. I said, 'Michael Walli.' And she then described in her broken english the many ways Michael serves the community."

Kathy spoke also of a neighbor who, during a recent snow storm, came up the walk of the Dorothy Day house with a snow shovel. When he finished cleaning the walk he said, "I was just sitting inside watching the snow and I thought of how many years Mike Walli shoveled my walk, and other walks up and down the block, and I thought I should repay that since he was in jail."

Kathy described Michael as a teacher and a missionary for Jesus who commanded us to put down the sword. She quoted Dorothy Day on the atomic bomb—"If we wouldn't put people in gas chambers, why would we fling gas chambers at them?" I've learned these things because Michael has said them so often, she said. She spoke of Martin Luther King who condemned nuclear weapons in 1959 and declared that we face a choice between nonviolence and nonexistence. She quoted the Second Vatican Council: "Any act of war against cities is a crime against God and warrants universal condemnation," and Pope Paul VI who described Hiroshima as "a butchery of untold magnitude."

In closing Kathy drew the clear parallel between Michael Walli and the character Moshe the Beadle in the book Night. In the book Moshe is expelled from Hungary and goes to Poland where he witnesses the deportation of the Jews. Returning to Hungary, he seeks to warn everyone of the coming doom, but they won't listen. They thought him mad. They went to the gas chambers. We hope we would have cut the fences of the camps to free the prisoners, Kathy said. I am certain our Moshe, Michael Walli, would cut the fences. In our world, our gas chambers are nuclear weapons. They are ready for use. The whole world is the concentration camp, prepared for omnicidal weapons unless we transform this reality. Michael is trying to save our lives. Your life, Judge Thapar. Your life, Mr. Theodore. All our lives.

The courtroom was still for a long minute.

Jeff Theodore rose to cross exam, extracting information from Kathy, who gave it up easily. Yes, she has been a member of a Plowshares action group. Yes, she has engaged in protests. Yes, with these defendants. Yes, an action against nuclear submarines in Newport News—five times, she volunteered to save Theodore the trouble. Five times I have acted against these gas chambers without walls. He said "You don't believe what he did was wrong, do you?" She answered, "There is a higher law than the one in this court. There is the law of God." Theodore lowered the boom: "If he were to come back to be reintegrated into your community, would you try to discourage him from doing this kind of action again?" Kathy said she would not.

Chris Irwin rose to redirect, asking Kathy to described the basis for the Plowshares movement and she paraphrased the Isaiah passage. We should always take a hammer to the chains that enslave people, she said. We have fashioned these weapons with our hands, we can take them apart.

"One more question," said Irwin. "If Martin Luther King, Jr. were still alive, and he came to the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker house, would you discourage him from committing civil disobedience?"

"No!" said Kathy.

At 12:05 Mary Evelyn Tucker took the stand and Francis Lloyd walked her through her CV, and through the relationship between her family and Megan's. "How long have you know Megan Rice?" he asked. Mary Evelyn leaned into the microphone. "All my life," she said with a mixture of love and pride.

"Would you describe her personality?" Francis asked.

Mary Evelyn: She believes deeply and clearly. She is so far from disingenuous. When he (Prosecutor Theodore) used that word, it hit my heart. She is a sincere person of conviction, compassion and love. Her commitment to nonviolence—Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King—there is a lineage of transformation. She has committed her life to this way of seeking transformation.

"To allow Megan to continue the work of her life, the work to alleviate suffering, outside the walls of a prison would be an invaluable gift to the world," said Mary Evelyn. "To keep her inside, the world would be diminished for lack of her work." Mary Evelyn then told the court that Megan has served as the caretake in her large family, often accompanying the older generation in its final journey. "With Aunt Megan by our side…" said one niece.

"I can't think of any good purpose that would be served by keeping her in jail. Megan is in a great lineage. Gandhi preached nonviolence; King practiced nonviolence; Mandela proclaimed nonviolence; and Megan invoked nonviolence. Through her work, we can imagine a future for our children, that we will not have to live under the long shadow of nuclear peril. Surely we want to be the generation that stood up for all of life and the future of the planet."

Jeff Theodore asked no questions.

Andy Anderson, Duluth Minnesota Veteran for Peace, age 87, took the stand. Bill Quigley began to ask him questions about his history. "Careful about those memory questions," Andy cautioned. The courtroom chuckled, appreciating the easing of tension. "I enlisted in the Navy in 1944," said Andy. "I served on a destroyer in the Pacific. Our group came under fire from suicide planes and torpedoes; our job was to go around rescuing sailors. I sat in the stern of the ship and held a friend in my arms when he died.…No more violence. I came home a different person, and I hope I've been a different person ever since."

Andy spoke of knowing Michael and Greg, of serving food to the homeless with Greg and being on the street with Michael. "There are terrific human beings," he said.

"If you were the judge, what do you think you would say," asked Bill Quigley.

"What is a crime? If I had my way—forgive them their mistakes and it's gone. The only way to be able to help people is to be free. I would ask the judge to consider the release of Michael and Greg so they can continue to serve the community in the manner they have been serving."

"Anything else?" "These aren't harmful people. They are decent, warmhearted. Let 'em go.

John La Forge was the last defendant. He told the court he knew Mike and Greg through the Catholic Worker movement fro 20 and 16 years respectively. He talked of taking vegetables from the farm in Luck, Wisconsin to the kitchens and shelters in Duluth. He pointed out there work was unpaid.

"And how would you describe Michael Walli?" asked Bill Quigley.

"He is the quintessential Christian," said John. "He speaks in Biblical terms, about the burden the Bible places on us to do the right things. He will do it all. He is one of the unsung heroes, a man of all tasks, willing to do the ordinary work—changing beds, doing laundry, dishes.

Quigley: Would you described him as disingenuous?

LaForge: I was taken aback that the court said that. Maybe you qualified it. But there was a statement that they don't care about the law. For people who practice nonviolence, this kind of nonviolence, they care deeply about the law. So much of this is about US law.

John also described a recent trip to Germany where he stood with people there for a two-week demonstration against the Tornado jets that carry US B61 nuclear bombs. Everybody in Germany wants these bombs out of there, he said, the people, the government, all the political parties. But the United States is bringing these bombs back here, to be refurbished, here at Y12, and then sending them back to Germany.

Greg asked John to talk about his knowledge of the history of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and John replied by referencing the work of Gar Alperovitz and Robert Lifton who documented that Japan was suing for terms of surrender in July 1945, and who linked the decision to drop the bomb to Russia's expected entry into the Pacific theater on August 8, 1945. "After the bomb was dropped," said Greg, "we accepted the terms offered by Japan, and they were able to retain the emperor."

Jeff Theodore attempted to discredit John by getting him to recount his arrest history, which John cheerfully did. "You don't think there was anything wrong with what they did, do you?" asked Theodore. "I might have done a few things differently," allowed John.

"If they were released, you would encourage them to do it again, wouldn't you," said Theodore, unmindful of the lawyers' dictum about asking questions you don't know the answer to.

"I'll refer to Phil Berrigan," said John, "who said we should always discourage each other from doing Plowshares actions. If a person can be discouraged, they are not ready to do it."

"So you would try to prevent him?" said Theodore. "Argumentatively, yes," answered John.

"But you would support him if he did it."

"Of course."

Greg asked John to describe his case before Judge Miles Lord; John explained the Judge used the case to condemn nuclear weapons production and the companies that made them before sentencing John and to six months unsupervised probation.

When John finished, the court took a 15 minute break. We returned at 1:15 to the judge's announcement that the courthouse would be closing at 2:30 due to the snow. The lawyers consulted calendars and the 18th of February came up as the next day all were free, so the sentencing hearing was suspended until then.

National Security: The Case AGAINST Nuclear Weapons

The folks who have been working so hard to stop the new Kansas City Bomb Plant from being built have done a great job of focusing on the financial/economic waste involved in the new facility as well as nuclear weapons production in general.  They have a website worth checking out.  It's called Foolish Investment - Kansas City.

They put together a fact sheet on nuclear weapons and "national security."  You know - that phrase that politicians and pundits throw around so freely whenever they want to stop any questioning of the wisdom of our nation's continuing pursuit of nuclear weapons.  

You can read the first part below, and then click the link at the end to read some pertinent quotes from national security experts.

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Supporters of continued nuclear weapon production argue they’re needed for national security – but actually, the national security argument strengthens the case against them.

Lobbyists for corporations aren’t the people that should be deciding how we spend our national security dollars. They have their profit in mind, not our security. The lobbyists haven’t noticed or don’t care what century we’re living in. Rather than letting the military adapt to new conditions and reshape itself to meet current needs, they keep pushing a desperately outdated strategy.

Every dollar spent on nuclear weapons is a dollar cut from the troops. Troops and veterans shouldn’t have resources diverted away from them because lobbyists work for profit-making corporations instead of working for them.

Every dollar spent on nuclear weapons is a dollar cut from stopping terrorists. Nuclear weapons are useless against small groups who want to wreak havoc – it would be like trying to use a bulldozer against a cloud of mosquitoes. Are we ever going to explode a nuclear weapon and kill millions of innocent men, women, and children, in order to stop or punish a dozen people?

The nuclear budget prevents us from competing economically, and economic security is part of our national security. This is a pork-barrel program. All huge federal government programs which provide no economic benefit are drains on our economy. We may decide that they’re worth the economic problems they cause, but if they’re going to be allowed to weaken our economy, they better make up for it by providing security we need. They don’t.

And, don't forget to read the quotes on this topic by a half dozen established national security experts.  They help tighten the noose around the spurious arguments for maintaining and modernizing the nation's nuclear arsenal.

Thoroughly Modern Nukes for FY2012

Friends,

Abolitionists beware!  It would be easy to go through an entire bottle of ibuprofen (not in one sitting of course) while attempting to make any sense of all the analysis of the U.S. Fiscal Year 2012 Budget!  As for the "defense" budget the great shell game continues.  It gives peacemakers a tremendous headache.

As for issues of a nuclear nature, actions speak even louder than numbers.  While it is easy to get sidetracked by the figures (and I don't mean to discount the costs; they ARE important), it is crystal clear from the projects currently in the works and those on the planning table that the U.S. Government's focus is  much like a horse with blinders - Can you say "DETERRENCE?"

Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists has summarized The Nuclear Weapons Modernization Budget in the FAS Strategic Security Blog (Feb 17, 2011).  Between "maintenance and modernization" the government is ensuring that the nuclear weapons development, construction, maintenance deployment and delivery infrastructure is thoroughly protected from the budgetary axe.  If spending is the true indicator of intention, then President Obama's disarmament rhetoric rings hollow.

Nuclear weapons, based on FY2012 budget request, continue to stand at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy, and if the government's current plans are realized the prospects for global nuclear disarmament before the year 2100 - should we not commit nuclear omnicide before then - look grim.

From missiles to bombs, "the budget includes significant investments in maintaining and modernizing the nuclear weapons in the stockpile through the life-extension programs (LEPs)."   But that's not all folks!  The Obama administration will make sure that the "missiles, submarines and bombers designed to deliver the warheads" are also "modernized."

But wait!  We are talking about way more than mere modernization here.  As Kristensen states, the Minuteman III ICBM is analogous to the Six Million Dollar Man (but way more expensive) and "is essentially a new missile."  The Air Force's heavy bombers and fighter-bombers will be upgraded, and in the case of the B-52 "will provide for further nuclear weapons in both bay and under wings."  Great - More nuclear weapons!!!

 The biggest and scariest news of all is the intention (and research has been underway for some time now) to build a new generation of ballistic missile submarines (SSBN(X).  Although Kristensen covers this only briefly, it is a huge issue as Trident is the nations premier first strike weapon, and according to estimates would be in service through 2082!

And finally, the infrastructure that has developed, built and maintained the nations nuclear weapons continues to receive more than adequate funding to continue rebuilding itself.  Construction at Los Alamos and Y-12 in Tennessee are well under way and well over budget, and the Kansas City Plant (not mentioned by Kristensen) is on a roll.

As for the "Implications and Outlook" of the current nuclear weapons budget, here's what Kristensen has to say:

With massive investments in widespread modernization of nuclear forces and industry, the FY2012 budget shows that the Obama administration is following through on its promise to make significant investments in modernizing the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

The “generational” modernizations proposed in the budget represent a commitment to extending the nuclear era as long into the future as it has lasted so far. A challenge will be whether nuclear modernization will overshadow nuclear disarmament in the administration’s public nuclear image.

Following on the heels of the Prague speech and the New START treaty, it remains to be seen whether other nuclear weapon states and the international non-proliferation community will see the nuclear modernization programs as progress toward reducing the role and numbers of nuclear weapons and putting an end to Cold War thinking, or business as usual only at lower numbers.

To what extent the Congress will fund these programs is another unknown. With unprecedented deficit and a new Congress that appears determined to cut government spending, several of the nuclear modernization programs will like come under considerable scrutiny.

It is obvious that the Obama administration is locked into a decades old pattern of thinking linked to a deeply entrenched military-nuclear-industrial complex that perpetuates a potentially deadly reliance on weapons that by their very design indiscriminately kill civilians, and if ever used in even a limited conflict would result in devastating immediate and long-term global effects.  The world cannot afford a continuation of "business as usual" at any numbers!!!




I urge everyone to read Kristensen's summary and analysis, and consider how we can respond. We need to send a clear message to President Obama and Congress that planned modernization efforts are antithetical to the President's stated "goal of a world without nuclear weapons." We need to ask the President just what kind of legacy he wants to leave the world when he leaves office.

Peace,

Leonard

Kansas City, Kansas City Here It Comes...

Dear Friends,

August 29th marked the first observance of the International Day against Nuclear Tests, proposed in 2009 by the Government of Kazakhstan at the sixty-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Preamble of the resolution emphasizes “that every effort should be made to end nuclear tests in order to avert devastating and harmful effects on the lives and health of people … and, that the end of nuclear tests is one of the key means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world”.

In his message for the Day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that “there is real momentum behind this great cause”, and that he looked forward to “working with all parties to rein in spending on nuclear weapons and rid the world of the nuclear threat”.

Meanwhile, back on the Homeland "reigning in spending on nuclear weapons" is not on the table, and ironically the very efforts the U.S. government is putting into building up the U.S. nuclear weapons complex is doing nothing to "rid the world of the nuclear threat", but everything to increase it. And what of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning President Obama??? According to Nukewatch:

President Obama has declared that he intends to increase next year’s funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) nuclear weapons research and production programs by 14%. Further, despite crippling national debt, he claims their budgets will rise by more than 40% from $6.4 billion in 2010 to $9 billion by 2018. This means that eight years from now, nearly three decades after the end of the Cold War, spending on NNSA research and production programs for nuclear weapons will be 75% higher than the annual Cold War average of $5.1 billion. Is this the right path to Obama’s declared long-term goal of a nuclear weapons-free world?

Now isn't that special! As part of the "modernization" of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, the government will soon break ground on a brand new bomb production plant in Kansas City. Rougly 85 percent of the non-nuclear components for the nation's nuclear weapons come from the current Kansas City plant. Don't worry about the employee health concerns and huge environmental contamination at the current plant though; they'll probably get it right the second time around. Won't they???

Well, there are lots of us out there who don't want to see a second time around. The nation has plenty of nukes with plenty of shelf life left, and we should be spending a whole lot more energy working towards that "nuclear weapons-free world" the Pres has been touting (although his deeds have not followed his words).

What is extra special about this project is that the local Kansas City, MO government is subsidizing private developers, who will build and eventually own the plant (can you say PRIVATIZATION???), using over $750 million in municipal bonds, while the City closes schools and hospitals. What's wrong with this picture?!?!?!

On September 8, 10:00 AM Central Time, federal, congressional and municipal officials will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Kansas City Plant (KCP), and there will be some additional guests (who aren't on the government's guest list). What I hope will be a huge group of nuclear resisters will be showing up at Highway 150 and Botts Road to tell the government, "NO NEW BOMB PLANT!"

I know that most of us can't drop everything and swing over to Kansas City, but we can certainly show our support and solidarity with those who will be there, some of them likely engaging in acts of resistance that will get them arrested.

Please send your message of support (either individual or organizational) to Ann Suellentrop (annsuellen@gmail.com) Kansas City Physicians for Social Responsibility, one of the co-sponsors of the September 8th action. Then ask others to do the same.

I can only hope that some Raging Grannies will show up at Highway 150 and Botts Road on September 8th and perform an appropriate (or should I say inappropriate) version of that great song, Kansas City in dishonor of the new bomb plant.

Supporting our comrades in the struggle for a nuclear weapons-free world.

Peace,

Leonard

Read the Statement of Resistance to Nuclear Weapons Production that was delivered to workers and officials during the August 16th civil resistance at the site of the new Kansas City nuclear weapons production plant where 14 resisters were arrested.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the Kansas City bomb plant and the upcoming September 8th civil resistance. Here you will find a huge archive of materials courtesy of the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Nuclear Watch New Mexico.

More Nukes - It's the Pits!

Friends,

For all the talk coming from The White House, if you want to know where the U.S. is really (and always has been) headed, just listen to the talk coming from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Of course the name alone should make us all shudder. Since when was there really any security in anything nuclear???

The NNSA is pushing ahead with its plans for "Complex Modernization", a program initiated by our previous President; you know, the one who said "nucular." The program would expand two existing nuclear bomb production facilities to essentially build new plutonium pits and other bomb parts out of enriched uranium. You may remember previous names for this plan; first there was Complex 2030, and then it was Complex Transformation. Heaven knows what they will come up with next.

Although the NNSA speaks of the plan in terms of "transforming... the complex into smaller and more efficient operations while maintaining the capabilities NNSA needs to perform its national security missions", what it really means is that NNSA wants to keep building bombs.

Los Alamos National Laboratories would be building the new plutonium pits (up to 80 per year), while the Y-12 facility in Oad Ridge, Tennessee would be engaged in enriched uranium processing. A fundamental question surrounding all this planning is how this will affect current disarmament and non-proliferation efforts. Will these pits be simply replacing "aging" pits in currently deployed warheads, or are we talking brand new weapons???

Everybody is currently waiting anxously to see whether they get the thumbs up or thumbs down regarding the go ahead for Complex Modernization. That will depend on the recommendations of the upcoming Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). I suspect that the NPR will promote Complex Modernization; there seems to be strong support, primarily from the military side, for getting the biggest bang for our buck.

And therein lies the rub; just how long can those pits (even though plutonium has a very long half life, it still loses its original properties over time) sit in warheads before they will just fizzle (or at least lose a megaton or two in yield) when detonated. That very question brought the brightest minds in the U.S. weapons complex together in 2006 to determine the lifespan of plutonium pits in the U.S. arsenal. Their findings, which were peer reviewed by the JASONS, were that the plutonium in most nuclear weapons would be "reliable" for at least 100 years, and that "the majority of plutonium pits for most nuclear weapons types have minimum lifetimes of at least 85 years." Hmmmm...

The vast majority of U.S. deployed nuclear warheads are cruising the seven seas in Trident submarine launch tubes waiting patiently to unleash their hellish fury. The Trident D-5 missile was first deployed in 1990. The relatively young warheads on these missiles coupled with the fact that sea-based missiles are currently the "centerpiece" of the U.S. nuclear arsenal would counter any argument for a need to build new pits. We simply do not need them; the warheads of the U.S. premier "deterrent" force (Trident) are so new that you can almost still smell the fresh paint!

Tell President Obama that we have plenty of nuclear weapons (too many in fact), and that if we can't do away with all of them long before they reach their "use by" dates, the world will be in deep trouble. Now is the time to act decisively for disarmament and non-proliferation. And while you are at it, tell your members of Congress.

Email President Obama at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

Find your Congressional contact info at http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml.

Peace,

Leonard

Out of the FOGBANK

Friends,

Here is an article I wrote for Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action's April 2009 newsletter, Volume 14, Issue 2. Check out the entire April newsletter by clicking here.

Peace,
.
Leonard

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Out of the Fog (Bank): How the Pentagon Temporarily Forgot How to Make Trident Warheads

Over the past year, we’ve heard about nuclear tipped Cruise missiles mistakenly loaded and flown across the U.S. on a B52 bomber, nuclear missile fuses mistakenly shipped to Taiwan (they thought they were sending helicopter batteries, and found out their error 18 months later), 80 computers unaccounted for at Los Alamos National Laboratory (13 stolen and 6 missing). Where will it all end?

Now we have a new bit of news - plans gone missing! Have you ever forgotten where something was, and no matter how much you looked or thought about it, you just couldn't figure out where you had left it? Or perhaps when you were in college you scribbled down lots of notes in a really important class, and then tried to refer to them to write a term paper and couldn’t figure out what any of it meant? Well, something like one (or both) of these scenarios played out at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). According to a U.S. Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) report, the NNSA "lost knowledge" of how to manufacture a rather obscure and "very hazardous material, codenamed Fogbank" (1).

It would seem that the NNSA was in the fog about the plans (or formula) for Fogbank, and this set the "joint American-British plans to upgrade the Trident nuclear weapons" back by a year and cost taxpayers an additional $69 million. What is really amazing is that (according to the GAO report) the NNSA "kept few records of the process when the material was made in the 1980s", and most of the people involved are now gone. So much for scientific method or good recordkeeping, eh? Perhaps an obsessive concern over information security got the better of them. (Remember the government’s spy obsession that culminated in the prosecution – or was it persecution - of Wen Ho Lee in the late 1990s?)

Back to Fogbank in a moment. For now, consider that the U.S. government has a program, the W76 Life Extension Program, to refurbish certain nuclear weapons, including the W76 warhead that tops off many of the Trident nuclear missiles. The refurbishing process is not unlike that which is used to refurbish a used computer or household appliance, except that is a nuclear weapon with a 100 kiloton yield. Replacement parts are designed at one of the nation’s three nuclear weapons design laboratories. Warheads are shipped to one of the production plants where they are disassembled, upgraded with new nuclear and non-nuclear parts, and re-assembled. Refurbished warheads are shipped (in the case of the W76) to the Navy, ready for deployment.

No one (outside of anyone with a really, really high security clearance) probably knows exactly what Fogbank is, but there is some pretty sound speculation out there. Modern nuclear weapons are much more sophisticated, and much smaller, than the aptly named “Fat Man” bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. Weapons designers have done their best to design warheads that are light in weight, relatively small (to fit as many as possible onto a missile), and pack a major wallop when detonated.

A modern thermonuclear warhead is composed of essentially two separate bombs, a primary and a secondary. The primary, a fission bomb, has a core (or “pit” of plutonium 239 surrounded by explosives, which, when detonated, compress the plutonium, causing a fission explosion (that is boosted by Tritium). Massive amounts of x-rays generated by the primary fission explosion compress and heat the secondary (a fusion device) composed of Uranium 235 and Lithium Deuteride (the fusion fuel), causing both fission and fusion reactions. The proverbial icing on the cake is the layer of enriched uranium surrounding the secondary, causing a third blast.

Of course, you can’t just throw a primary and a secondary together and hope everything will work. Those x-rays have to be focused or modulated in order to create the desired effect on the secondary. This is (most likely) where Fogbank comes in. It is probably the material that makes up the interstage, the material that separates (and surrounds) the primary and secondary and, during detonation, “shapes” the flow of x-rays to compress and heat the secondary.

Fogbank is what some have referred to as an aerogel. “Aerogels are extremely low-density materials that feel like polystyrene and look like smoke or fog” (2). They have many desirable properties for a nuclear warhead, including high strength and low weight, and excellent heat insulation. Fogbank is also a material that presents some serious occupational safety and health hazards (3). The GAO report referred to “disagreements on the implementation of safety guidelines” between NNSA and the contractor, one of the issues that caused the delay and extra cost.

The GAO report found many problems with the Stockpile Life Extension Program, but this broad statement in the “Conclusions” section stood out; “All of these management issues raise significant questions about NNSA’s ability not only to complete life extension programs on time and on budget that meet all refurbishment objectives, but also its ability to manage the design and production of new weapons, such as the proposed reliable replacement warhead.” That doesn’t exactly give me great confidence in these stewards of our nuclear weapons.

Alas, for the time being it looks like the Navy will have to make do with those decrepit W76 warheads currently deployed as they anxiously await delivery of refurbished warheads. They only just took delivery of the first (overdue) refurbished warhead, which is, according to NNSA’s principal deputy administrator, “another great example of the unsurpassed expertise throughout NNSA’s national security enterprise” (4). If this is an example of “unsurpassed expertise”, I can only imagine what any effort to build the Reliable Replacement Warhead would have looked like. Perhaps the NNSA is living in a fogbank.

As for the GAO, “The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars” (from the GAO Website). And if the GAO report referenced here is any indicator of their work, it is taxpayer dollars very well spent. Encore GAO!

Author’s Notes and References:
(1) Nuclear Weapons: NNSA and DOD Need to More Effectively Manage the Stockpile Life Extension Program, GAO-09-385 March 2, 2009 at http://gao.gov/products/GAO-09-385.
(2) Fogbank, Arms Control Wonk (blog), http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/1814/fogbank
(3) US forgets how to manufacture Trident missile warhead component, domain-b.com, 3/10/2009, http://www.domain-b.com/aero/mil_avi/miss_muni/20090310_trident_missile.html
(4) Refurbished W76 Warhead Enters U.S. Nuclear Weapon Stockpile, National Nuclear Security Administration press release, 2/23/2009, http://nnsa.energy.gov/2286.htm
How the US forgot how to make Trident missiles, Sunday Herald, http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2494129.0.how_the_us_forgot_how_to_make_trident_missiles.php

Congress Listened - No Nuclear Stimulus!

Friends,

GREAT NEWS! I've just learned that the United States Congress listened to the people. Isn't that a refreshing change?

The $1 billion in the economic stimulus package destined for nuclear weapons was totally eliminated, as was $50 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants. That isn't exactly small change; and it is a significant statement about the power of grassroots organizing against some very powerful, entrenched military and corporate interests.


None of this money would have created much in the way of jobs, and would have benefited only limited government and corporate interests.

Thanks to action alerts from at least four organizations, Council for a Liveable World, Faithful Security, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF), and Pax Christi, people took action and made it happen. If you aren't keeping up-to-date on issues like this one but want to, you can get involved through any of these organizations . You can sign up for the NAPF Action Alert Center by clicking here. There is great power in our collective voice.

Peace,

Leonard

Note: The "No Nukes" image is courtesy of Global Voices Online.