Dan Schlitt
Dan Schlitt is a retired UNL physics professor who has followed issues related to nuclear weapons for 50 years. A founding member of Nebraskans for Peace and active Quaker, he currently sits on the “General Committee of the Friends Committee on National Legislation” and recently served on the Regional Executive Committee and the national Board of the American Friends Service Committee.
The past several months have been very encouraging for those of us who yearn for the end of the threat from nuclear weapons. For three decades we have seen little progress. The current steps are not all we could wish for, but they are steps in the right direction.
Read morePosted In: StratCom & Nuclear Weapons
NFP
On April 8 in Prague, President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a new nuclear arms reduction agreement—the ‘NEW START’ Treaty. The accord must now be approved by both the U.S. Senate and the Russian Duma before it is binding. Approval by the Senate requires a two-thirds majority vote (67 of the 100 total votes in the body), which will require bipartisan support.
Versions of the following ‘letter to the editor’ outlining Nebraskans for Peace’s position on the treaty recently appeared in both the Omaha World-Herald and the Lincoln Journal Star. While the agreement’s arms reduction goals are modest in the extreme, they once again get the world’s two largest nuclear powers back on a course toward abolition.
Read morePosted In: StratCom & Nuclear Weapons
Loring Wirbel, Citizens for Peace in Space
Colorado Springs, Colorado
The speed with which Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles have transformed the face of war-fighting is almost as dazzling as the technology itself. Five years ago, these robot planes were still pretty much generally regarded as the stuff of science fiction. Today, however, unarmed reconnaissance drones (ranging in size from a dragonfly to almost the size of a two-seat Cessna) and the rarer armed drones (equipped with missiles or smart bombs) are staples of the Pentagon’s war-making efforts—their numbers and uses destined only to increase.
Read morePosted In: StratCom & Nuclear Weapons
TIM RINNE
STATE COORDINATOR
A version of this article originally appeared in the February 13, 2010 Lincoln Journal Star.
Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles (or ‘drones’) are more and more becoming the weapon of choice for waging America’s international ‘War on Terror.’ The ‘Predator’ and the ‘Reaper’ models in particular have become so popular that, in its 2011 budget, the Air Force is actually requesting more drones than piloted combat aircraft.
Read morePosted In: StratCom & Nuclear Weapons
TIM RINNE
STATE COORDINATOR
The following article was prepared for distribution at the United Nations Association-USA National Convention, June 12-14 in Washington, D.C.
The consolidation of eight military missions in U.S. Strategic Command (nuclear deterrence; space; cyberspace; full-spectrum global strike; missile defense; intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance; information operations; and combating weapons of mass destruction) constitutes more than a simple expansion of StratCom’s power and reach.
Read morePosted In: StratCom & Nuclear Weapons
