It's Time to Take Our Nuclear Weapons Off Hair-Trigger Alert

On the 70th Anniversary of the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, It's Time to Take Our Nuclear Weapons Off Hair-Trigger Alert

Dear friend,

Keep America Safe The Cold War policy of keeping hundreds of U.S. nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert threatens the safety of all Americans. Urge President Obama to take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert today. Remember back in 2009 when President Obama gave a speech in Prague declaring that the United States would "seek the peace and security of a world free of nuclear weapons?" That's the same year he won the Nobel Peace Prize--in large part because of that vision. Today, on the eve of the seventieth anniversary of the horrific U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed tens of thousands of people, the risks posed by nuclear weapons remain unacceptably high. And not enough progress has been made towards this vision of a nuclear weapons-free world.  In fact, there are still more than 16,000 nuclear weapons on the planet, most of them in the United States and Russian arsenals, and most of them are many times more destructive than those dropped on Japan. Hundreds of these nuclear missiles are on "hair-trigger alert," which means they can be launched in just a matter of minutes.  Our current policies make the risk of an accidental or unauthorized launch of a nuclear weapon all too real and give the president only 8-12 minutes to decide if a nuclear attack against our country is real and whether to order a retaliatory nuclear strike.  People, machines, and computers make mistakes all the time--those mistakes shouldn't lead to an accidental nuclear war. And that's why we need your voice.  Please join with the Union of Concerned Scientists and more than 20,000 supporters to call on President Obama to take our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert.  It's a simple, sensible, achievable step that will make everyone on the planet safer. What's more, the president can take such an action without the approval of Congress or an agreement with Russia.  Well before President Obama took office he understood that nuclear weapons are a liability, not an asset. They have no real value nor use against the threats we face as a society today. As a presidential candidate, he even called for taking our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert. In his final months in office, let's hold him to that promise. President Obama needs to know the American public is behind him to give him the courage to act. This is a lasting legacy he can leave for his children, and ours. Urge Obama to take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert today.  Sincerely, Sean Meyer Manager of Strategic Campaigns Global Security Program Union of Concerned Scientists Mother Jones and its non-profit publisher, the Foundation for National Progress, does not endorse any political candidate, political organization, commercial product, process or service, and the views expressed in this communication do not constitute an endorsement, recommendation or favoring by Mother Jones. Mother Jones Follow For advertising opportunities see our online media kit.

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