Union of Concerned Scientists

Successes

Recent successes in Nuclear Weapons and Global Security include:

Launched a major campaign to change U.S. nuclear weapons policy
As part of our campaign to change U.S. nuclear weapons policy, we helped convince lawmakers to adopt legislation mandating a fundamental re-assessment of the role and purpose of U.S. nuclear weapons by the next President.

Presidential Candidates Support World Free of Nuclear Weapons
UCS has been instrumental in raising the issue of US nuclear weapons policy in the 2008 presidential campaign, and both Senator McCain and Obama have now publicly endorsed the vision and goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.

Dangerous Nuclear Reprocessing Plan Curtailed
Solid UCS research and the involvement of thousands of UCS activists helped strike a major blow to the Bush administration's proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program, which would entail reprocessing spent fuel from nuclear power reactors to extract plutonium—which can be used to make nuclear weapons.

No New Nuclear Weapons
Working with a coalition of peace and security organizations, UCS successfully convinced the U.S. House of Representatives in May 2008 to again deny funding for the Administration's plan to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons—the so-called Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW).

Preserving Space for Peaceful Purposes
UCS has been a leading voice against the deployment of space weapons. We helped lead a successful effort in 2007 to deny funding for the Administration's missile defense "space test bed", which would represent the first steps toward placing weapons in space.

20th International Summer Symposium on Science and World Affairs
UCS has played a leading role in developing an international cadre of non-governmental scientists who use their technical expertise to work on arms control and security issues, and this year hosted its 20th Summer Symposium in Boston from July 25 to August 1.

Read more

Analysis

Toward True Security: Ten Steps The Next President Should Take to Transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy
A new report co-written by UCS staff and board members, and other independent experts (February 13, 2008)

The Physics of Space Security: A Reference Manual, a UCS-authored report, published in May 2005 by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS).

Technical Realities: An Analysis of the U.S. National Missle Defense System
The ballistic missile defense system that the United States will deploy later this year will have no demonstrated defensive capability and will be ineffective against a real attack by long-range ballistic missiles.

Campaigns

Tell Your Senators: No Space Weapons  For nearly a half-century, the peaceful use of space has yielded immense benefits to humans worldwide. Now, the Bush administration is requesting funding for a program that would, for the first time, set the United States on a path of placing weapons in space. This program is dangerous since it would encourage other countries to develop similar space weapons, which could be used to attack satellites. As soon as next week, the U.S. Senate could begin considering the annual defense bills that will determine whether to fund this program. Write to your senators immediately, urging them to oppose putting weapons in space and oppose funding for this program.

Urge Next President: Make Nuclear Threat a Major Priority  It is an almost forgotten fact, but the 20,000 nuclear weapons worldwide remain one of the gravest, most immediate threats to humankind. The United States and Russia have over 95 percent of the world's nuclear arsenal; seven other countries also possess nuclear weapons. If the world remains on its current path, more will follow. Eventually, terrorists will get the bomb. Fortunately, both Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama have endorsed the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. Now is the time to hold them to their word. Please ask the candidates to continue to highlight this critical issue in their campaigns and, if elected, to make reducing the nuclear threat a major priority.

Resources

UCS Satellite Database
A free, searchable, easy-to-use database of more than 850 active satellites with detailed information about each. (Updated October 6, 2008)

Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator animation
See why a nuclear "bunker buster" would not contain radioactive fallout and could instead kill millions of civilians.

Countermeasures animation
This animation shows how the proposed missile defense system can be defeated by simple countermeasures. (RealVideo)