Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists articles from March 1997

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists archives from March 1997

Abolition web.(retired General George Lee Butler advocates nuclear disarmament)(Editorial)
March 1, 1997... When the names of the 17 members of the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons were revealed just over a year ago, the line-up seemed logical. Among them: Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the environmentalist; Jayantha Dhanapala;...

Sometimes it is rocket science.(need to support and strengthen the Arms and Control and Disarmament Agency)(Column)
March 1, 1997... A surprising number of arms control measures will figure prominently in the next four years. These include Senate action on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention, as well as a series of measures that are now...

Teraflopping into the new millenium.(Energy Dept. enlists research universities in its program for virtual testing of nuclear weapons)
March 1, 1997... The law of unintended consequences, discovered by Mr. Adam and Ms. Eve some years back, remains in full flower. It may be coming soon to a university near you. The Energy Department is enlisting major research universities in its...

The great tritium rush.(competing plans for ensuring supply of tritium)
March 1, 1997... Tritium gas, a hydrogen isotope, gives an added bounce to a fission explosion. Without tritium, the fission explosion in a thermonuclear weapon might not be powerful enough to induce the fusion process -- the weapon would be a "dud," doomed to...

Of cabbages not kings.(political and economic problems in Romania)
March 1, 1997... During the Romanian elections last November, everyone seemed to be buying cabbages. Amid the decaying eight-year-old high-rises of Militare and Bucharest's other proletarian districts, peasant merchants had constructed huge cabbage mountains,...

Nuclear powers take a hard line.(United Nations)
March 1, 1997... Over the past two years there has been movement on the nuclear disarmament front, but no momentum. In May 1995, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was made permanent and the nuclear powers reaffirmed their Article VI commitment to...

Congress snoozes.(lack of congressional activity on expanding NATO membership)
March 1, 1997... Two weeks before the November election, President Bill Clinton used a campaign speech in Detroit to promote expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). What had been a vague promise to newly emerging democracies in Central...

Bosnia: begin again; NATO must do more to nurture the process of democratic reform.
March 1, 1997... In the late 1980s, students protesting the illegitimacy of communist governments in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague waved the Stars and Stripes to celebrate their Western aspirations. In late 1996, students in Belgrade burned the Stars...

You call that intelligence?(need to reform the Central Intelligence Agency)
March 1, 1997... Washington intelligence mavens -- or more accurately, the CIA's head spin doctors -- have many techniques for minimizing the impact of news detrimental to their chieftains. One that has been used often of late is making the potentially...

Another strategic deception initiative: after 14 years of secrecy and misinformation on missile defense research, Congress and the public deserve openness.
March 1, 1997... Like a gullible and forgetful diner who keeps ordering the mystery soup after a long series of unsavory surprises, Congress has once again thrown billions of dollars into a secretive missile defense program that has become better known for...

Kashmir is bleeding.(includes related article on conditions needed for a peaceful solution in Kashmir)(Cover Story)
March 1, 1997... Having covered the uprising in my native Kashmir for eight years, I sometimes cannot believe I have had the good luck to remain alive. Two years ago, a stray bullet ricocheted through my office. Another time while I was covering a student...

Time to end the age of nukes.(support for nuclear disarmament)(includes excerpt from the Statement on Nuclear Weapons by International Generals and Admirals)
March 1, 1997... Permit me to quote briefly from a memorandum that many of you will find familiar. It is from Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson to President Truman, dated September 11, 1945: "If the atomic bomb were merely another -- though more...

The bomb has many friends.(supporters of nuclear weapons)
March 1, 1997... Gen. Lee Butler (ret.), the former commander-in-chief of all U.S. strategic nuclear forces, says that nuclear weapons no longer serve any useful purpose and they should be scrapped. His candid testimony is on target -- and all the more...

Plutonium: the disposal decision.
March 1, 1997... On December 9, the U.S. Energy Department announced a "dual-track" strategy for transforming up to 50 metric tons of surplus weapons-grade plutonium (essentially, plutonium 239) into forms that would make it less useful for nuclear weapons and...

Work with Russia.(disposal of weapons-grade plutonium)(includes related article on the history of plutonium manufacture)
March 1, 1997... The announcement by the Energy Department of the "two track" approach to the disposition of excess separated military plutonium has been attacked by a number of environmental and arms control non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as contrary...

Bury the stuff.(disposal of weapons-grade plutonium)
March 1, 1997... Proponents of the Clinton administration's "two-track" policy on weapons-plutonium disposal insist it is essential to pursue both tracks in the United States and in Russia. They claim that those who oppose the use of mixedoxide (MOX) fuel in a...

After the CTB ... India's intentions.(Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty)
March 1, 1997... More than six months after it was adopted in the U.N. General Assembly, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTB) remains a victim of narrowly perceived national security interests. Three sour ironies marked the way agreement was reached....

India's options: having rejected a flawed test ban treaty, India should now lead the way to true disarmament.
March 1, 1997... Achieving a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTB) was a long-held goal of nuclear disarmament advocates. It has been signed by all five declared nuclear weapons states as well as by Israel. Yet its future is cloudy. India, whose signature is...

What threat? China's missiles are no threat, and India knows it.
March 1, 1997... Westerners may criticize India's refusal to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban (CTB) Treaty, but they are surprisingly accepting of the idea that India cannot sign because it has a "legitimate security concern" -- namely, China. However, the idea...

An Exhibit Denied: Lobbying the History of the Enola Gay.
March 1, 1997... In 1995 the National Air and Space Museum was forced to cancel an exhibit that was designed at various planning stages as a look at strategic bombing during World War II; as a display of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on...

The Eleventh Plague: The Politics of Biological and Chemical Warfare.
March 1, 1997... Leonard Cole's new book on chemical and biological warfare (CBW) is impassioned and idealistic. Written in lively, jargon-free prose and aimed at a popular audience, The Eleventh Plague provides an engaging introduction to this grimly...

National Defense and the Environment.
March 1, 1997... The U.S. Army's 10-year battle with the state of Colorado over cleaning up its former nerve gas manufacturing plant at the edge of Denver has taken an odd turn: The military is seeking minks as allies. During the past few years the...

The Internet and the bomb.(includes list of World Wide Web sites with information about nuclear weapons)
March 1, 1997... When we first began preparing the Internet and the Bomb: A Research Guide to Policy and Information About Nuclear Weapons (NRDC, forthcoming), we envisioned a short working paper describing the World Wide Web resources of the Defense and...

The three no's.(U.S. should not maintain its nuclear presence in Europe)(The Last Word)(Column)
March 1, 1997... "The three no's -- no intention, no reason, no plan to station nuclear forces on the territory of new members -- will not by any means be meaningless," Secretary of State Warren Christopher declared at his penultimate European press conference...