The Military, the Labs and the Republican Party Conspire to Bring Us "Modern" Nuclear War

The threat of nuclear war is still with us, though the Cold War is over. The scenarios are shifting, however, and rather than massive exchanges of strategic nuclear weapons, it is more likely that the actual nuclear use would be of tactical nuclear weapons in theater wars.

The weapons labs and the "Dr. Strangelove caucus" in Congress have teamed up to promote the manufacture of so-called mini-nukes. These small nuclear weapons would be especially dangerous since the military would regard them as "usable" in a wide range of circumstances where new "threats" are said to justify new weapons programs. Iraq, Iran, Osama bin Laden, and North Korea are the terrorist demons, said to wield weapons of mass destruction, who provide the latest justification for maintaining a US nuclear arsenal for the next century at least.

Lab pleas for a new style nuclear arsenal has backers in Congress. This spring, Senators John Warner (Republican-Virginia) and Wayne Allard (Republican-Colorado) inserted a provision into the FY 2001 Defense Authorization Bill to allow development of a "mini-nuke." Warner and Allard were responding directly to requests from the Air Force for a weapon to strike deeply buried, hardened targets — bunkers containing either chemical, biological or nuclear weapons or leaders of so-called rogue states.

The new nuclear weapons being sought are described as "mini"; nevertheless, they would still be vastly destructive, leaving a swath of radioactive devastation wherever they were used. In current US law, any nuclear weapon with an explosive yield of 5 kiloton or less is said to be a "mini-nuke."

Development of such weapons is currently prohibited in the US. Many "mini" warhead designs already exist, however, and designs for their weaponization have been drawn up by the labs. Following excellent work by former Representative Elisabeth Furse (Democrat-Washington) in 1993 and by Representative John Spratt (Democrat-South Carolina) in 1994, actually moving into the research, development, testing, and evaluation process for a new weapon is not allowed. These are the provisions that Senators Warner and Allard sought to overturn.

The weapons currently sought by the US Air Force are thought to have an explosive yield of 1 kiloton or even a little less. They would be intended to burrow up to 30 meters underground before detonation. This would allow destruction of hardened bunkers or would glassify chemical or biological agents in situ, supposedly without venting residue, radiation, heat, or blast into the environment. The weapons will therefore be said to be "usable," because they will kill only a few thousand to a few tens of thousands, not millions, incinerating only city districts, not entire urban areas.

Doctrinal changes introduced by the US and NATO during the 1990s would allow for the use of such weapons. These changes would allow for the use of nuclear weapons against chemical or biological weapons, even pre-emptive use if an attack was thought likely. These changes are enshrined in the US Presidential Decision Directive 60 issued by President Clinton in 1997, and the NATO Military Committee Paper MC-48/2 agreed secretly in May 2000, which details how to implement the new NATO Strategic Concept, agreed at the Washington Summit in April 1999. Already the US has deployed the B61-11 to some of its nuclear certified Air Force units. This bomb is a bunker buster but is considerably larger than the "mini-nukes" now under discussion.

The Warner-Allard provisions were substantially watered down in a budget battle in September, 2000. A request to appropriate $6 million for lab work on "mini-nukes" was rejected. The report mandated by Congress on capabilities for destruction of deeply buried hardened targets was required to focus on conventional and nuclear means, instead of nuclear alone. Moreover, the report must be completed by July 1, 2001, at which date all work on "mini-nukes" must cease. The Warner-Allard version would have left this open-ended.

Still, this victory is only a holding action. Warner and Allard will come back to Congress asking for more in 2001. With Republicans controlling the White House and both houses of Congress for the first time in 50 years, the struggle to contain "mini-nukes," as with many other military projects, will be harder than ever.

777 UN Plaza - 6th Floor - New York, NY - 10017 - Ph: 212.682.1265 - Fax: 212.286.8211 - info@reachingcriticalwill.org
This site was created by Kache Productions ©2008