Sorry I’ve been silent the last couple of weeks. In Alabama last week taking care of family stuff; returned home this week but have been laid low by Hay Fever. If any of you have any good remedies you can share it would be much appreciated!
One day in the late 70’s, I was hanging out in Tokyo with one of my girl friends doing the tourist thing. We passed by a big museum. Neither of us could read Japanese, so we didn’t understand the signs in front of the museum, but we saw a large crowd and thought they must be displaying something really interesting to generate such interest. The lines were moving pretty quickly so we decided to go in. I’ll always remember what happened next. I walked through the door, gasped at the display in horror and embarrassment and was about to turn around and walk out when one of the managers of the exhibit came over and indicated via sign language that it was okay for us to stay and look around. They were exhibiting graphic pictures showing the devastation caused by the nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The photos not only showed shattered buildings but also the horrific after effects of radiation on the people.
It was a strange feeling being in that situation knowing that the United States is the only country in history to have used nuclear weapons against another country. I think it was the right thing to do but didn’t want to discuss it with a museum full of Japanese in the middle of Tokyo. My girlfriend, who was also American, and I fully expected to be verbally or physically assaulted by some of the other museum goers; but as we walked around looking at the photos, experienced nothing but polite nods and looks of curious interest from the other primarily Japanese museum goers. I grew up in Newark, New Jersey and am used to dealing with “in your face” type attitudes but saw none of it that day. I remembered how my Mom had to physically restrain my Father from punching out some Japanese tourists when they toured the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. My Dad had served in the Army in the Pacific in the 1940’s and apparently forgot, at least for the moment, that the war was over.
This week as I lay on my couch wondering when my allergy medicine would kick in, I watched with interest as the Obama administration laid out their nuclear weapon strategy with the release of the Nuclear Posture review and the signing of the new Start Treaty with Russia. To my surprise, I agreed with a lot of it. If you’ve read any of my earlier blogs you know I’ve been critical of the President because of his lack of experience in the National Security arena prior to assuming office. I don’t agree with everything in his new policy but think it’s headed in the right direction. This is such a complex subject; I’m going to cover it over at least two additional blogs. The purpose of this first blog is to provide background on the nuclear security issue. In the next two I’ll be looking at the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) and the Start Treaty.
In the late ’90’s, I was assigned to United States Strategic Command (Stratcom). Stratcom is the military command in charge of our nation’s strategic nuclear triad. Shortly after my arrival, I went to a talk given by the Commander-in-Chief (CINC). The General began by asking “When did the Cold War end for you?” At first I didn’t get it and thought he was referring to a historical event. As he continued his talk, I realized he was referring to a state of mind. For me the Cold War ended the day I watched Russian Generals visit Startcom Headquarters in Omaha in the late ‘90’s and get a tour of the command that had spent many years planning how to use nuclear weapons to kick their butt if the Cold War had ever went hot. I tried to not look too surprised as I watched those guys being escorted around the command. Our American Generals and Admirals were receiving similar tours of Russian military facilities.
The point I believe my old boss was making was the Cold War was over, therefore that meant we had to revaluate the role of nuclear weapons in our national security policy. You could not do that effectively if you had not changed your world view. I don’t believe the Russians are our new best friends but they are no longer our worst national security nightmare. For those looking at this question may I suggest you begin by asking yourself: Has the Cold War ended for you or are you, like my Dad, still hostile over a long ended conflict? The Cold War is over…we won and the Soviet Union is no more. Will the United States and Russia ever be pals? That remains to be seen but we have to move forward developing new policies; remembering the past but not being chained to a national security nuclear policy designed to defeat the Soviet Union.
The fear of a nuclear war and the ramifications for the rest of the world prevented the use of nuclear weapons after World War II. It was tense at times but nuclear weapons were not used during the Cold War. In 1997, General Eugene B. Habiger wrote a paper called Deterrence in a New Security Environment (http://www.ndu.edu/inss/strforum/SF109/forum109.html). In one section he addressed the role played by nuclear weapons during the Cold War. “…their function is not solely to deter nuclear use by others but to restrain war itself. Consider the following:
As I see it, the current administration has two main goals. Prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to ultimately rid the world of nuclear weapons. You’d never know it listening to the sound bites the media calls “news” but President Obama’s recent moves are in line with previous major changes to our nuclear policy and weapons stockpiles made in the aftermath of the Cold War. It’s also an effort President’s of both parties have followed. In 1991, the first President Bush, took our strategic bombers off of alert, removed nuclear weapons from our ground forces and announced the U.S. would not develop any new nuclear weapons. The first Start Treaty was also signed during his administration. When President Clinton took office, he directed the Navy to abandon the capability of using nuclear weapons from its surface ships and in 1993 he and then Russian President Boris Yeltsin agreed not to target each other’s nations with ballistic missiles.
According to a fact sheet distributed by the State Department in July of 2009, since the end of the Cold War, the United States also has:
– Reduced the number of operationally deployed strategic warheads to roughly one third of the Cold War level.
– Unilaterally reduced non-strategic (tactical) nuclear weapons to less than one-tenth of Cold War levels.
– Retired over 1,000 strategic ballistic missiles, 350 heavy bombers and 28 ballistic missile submarines.
– Not produced enriched uranium for use in nuclear weapons since 1964 nor produced plutonium for nuclear weapons since 1988.
As stated earlier I’m not in agreement with everything I’ve seen so far on President Obama’s nuclear policy. For instance, I’m not in favor of totally eliminating nuclear weapons but…I’ll go into that in my next blog. As always, my views are my own. Think I’ll end for now, time for some more Hay Fever medicine.
