At a luncheon held at Drake University on Thursday, November 21, Deborah Rosenblum of the Nuclear Threat Initiative national organization presented comments on the nuclear threat and issued a call to action. Provide here is a video of the discussion. Further, here is her call to action:
Deborah’s call to action: there are a few questions that advocates should be asking presidential candidates when attending events:
(The orientation of the video is soon corrected for display.)
Deborah’s call to action: there are a few questions that advocates should be asking presidential candidates when attending events:
- “Do we still need thousands of weapons whose primary purpose is to never be used?” Gen. James Cartwright, who oversaw U.S. nuclear weapons under President George W. Bush and served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff for President Obama, said that we could ensure national security with 900 warheads, not 6,000+. Elected officials need to work with the military to determine what the right number is to protect our national security, then engage Russia on new treaties.
- “Will you extend the New START Treaty?” This treaty not only limits U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles, it includes monitoring and verification provisions, and is set to expire in February 2021—two weeks after the next presidential inauguration. But it could be extended for another five years.
- “Should we keep nuclear weapons on hair-trigger posture?”
- “If we talked to the Soviets at the height of the Cold War, why can’t we talk to Russians now about reducing nuclear risks?”
(The orientation of the video is soon corrected for display.)