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Nuclear Weapons Information and Analysis

Overview

Smaller Bangs, but Still Testing the Bomb

Stockpile Stewardship: Nuclear Weapons for the 21st Century

Reclaiming the Comprehensive Test Ban

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Doctrine Page

2002 Nuclear Posture Review Information Page

The Modern Pit Facility

New Document Finds

 
Nuclear Weapons Programs and Policies, Related Technologies, and the Legal Status of Nuclear Weapons

         WSLF develops and distributes information about nuclear weapons and other high-technology weapons research and development activities. An important aspect of WSLF’s work is assessment of the legal status of nuclear weapons policies and programs. A main focus of WSLF work over the last several years in this area has been the “Stockpile Stewardship and Management” Program, and in particular ongoing and new nuclear weapons research, development, testing and production activities at the Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons laboratories, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and the Nevada Test Site. WSLF provides analysis of the impacts of U.S. nuclear weapons programs on both the test ban and nonproliferation regimes. WSLF also is exploring the connections between the nuclear weapons laboratory facilities claimed necessary for Stockpile Stewardship, and other high technology weapons programs, including directed energy weapons, ballistic missile defenses, and space-based weapons research and development (see U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policies, Ballistic Missile Defense, and the Quest for Weapons in Space).

Important recent developments in this area include the Nuclear Posture Review, which revealed plans to intensify research on more useable nuclear weapons, and the proposal to build the Modern Pit Facility, a new factory to mass produce plutonium pits, the nuclear explosive "triggers" of modern thermonuclear weapons.

In the spring of 2005, the Department of Defense provoked controversy when a draft revision of its doctrine for nuclear weapons operations was posted, and then removed, from a Department of Defense web site. Although the draft largely continued existing nuclear weapons use doctrine, it stated in unusually clear language U.S. policies regarding use of nuclear weapons in a wide variety of circumstances other than retaliation for nuclear weapons use by another state. In the fall of 2005 the previous (current) versions of U.S. nuclear weapons operations doctrine documents were removed from their public web site location as well. For information, commentary, and various relevant documents no longer available from their original government sources, see the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Doctrine page.

Selected WSLF publications
Fusion Energy and the Illusions of Power, Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation Commentary, Summer 2009 pdf Rhetoric vs. Reality: Elite Disarmament Proposals and Real Disarmament Prospects, Jacqueline Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Spring 2009 pdf
Deterrence, Torture, Power, Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation Commentary, Spring 2009 pdf
Nuclear Weapons Forever: The U.S. Plan to Modernize its Nuclear Weapons Complex, Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Spring 2008 pdf
StratCom in Context: The Hidden Architecture of U.S. Militarism, Presentation by Jacqueline Cabasso at the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space annual meeting, Omaha, Nebraska April 12, 2008 pdf files text slides
Security at the Crossroads: National Security vs. Human Security, Jacqueline Cabasso, presentation at conference on "A European Union for Peace and Solidarity," Paris, France: March 10, 2008. pdf
"Complex 2030: U.S. Plans for 'Nukes Forever,'" Jacqueline Cabasso, INESAP Bulletin No. 27, December 2006
Questions and Answers About Weapons of Mass Destruction,WSLF Information Brief, Fall 2006 pdf download
The Divine Strake Nuclear Weapons Simulation: A Bad Signal at a Bad Time, Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Spring 2006 pdf download
Signs of Change in the First Committee, Jacqueline Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation Information Brief, Fall 2005 pdf download
Compliance Assessment: The NPT Declared Nuclear Weapon States, Presentation to the 2005 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, Western States Legal Foundation and Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, May 11, 2005 pdf download
War is Peace, Arms Racing is Disarmament: The Non-Proliferation Treaty and the U.S. Quest for Global Military Dominance, Western States Legal Foundation Special Report, by Andrew Lichterman with contributions from Jacqueline Cabasso, May 2005 full document(pdf) summary (6 pages, pdf) Information Brief version (2 pages, pdf)
Up For Sale: Bidding For Management of the Nuclear Weapons Labs, Western States Legal Foundation Special Report, by Michael Veiluva with contributions from Jacqueline Cabasso, Fall 2004 pdf download
The So-called 'U.S. Record of Compliance': Why The U.S. Numbers Game Is Not Disarmament, Andrew Lichterman and Jacqueline Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation Information Bulletin, Spring 2004 pdf download
The Nevada Test Site: Desert Annex of the Nuclear Weapons Laboratories, Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation and Nevada Desert Experience Information Bulletin, Winter 2003 pdf download, updated August 2005 pdf download
Missiles of Empire: America's 21st Century Global Legions Andrew Lichterman, WSLF information Bulletin, Fall 2003 pdf download
Mass Producing Weapons of Mass Destruction: U.S. Plans for a New Nuclear Weapons Factory and the Global Resurgence of Nuclear Arms Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation and Los Alamos Study Group Information Bulletin, Summer 2003 pdf download
Sliding Towards the Brink: More Useable Nuclear Weapons and the Dangerous Illusions of High-Tech War Andrew Lichterman, WSLF information Bulletin, March 2003 pdf download
Andrew Lichterman and Jacqueline Cabasso, "The End of Disarmament and the Arms Races to Come," Social Justice Vol. 29, No. 3, 2002 (WSLF reprint version) pdf download
The Shape of Things to Come: The Nuclear Posture Review, Missile Defense, and the Dangers of a New Arms Race, WSLF Special Report, April, 2002 pdf download
Retreat from Disarmament: the Role of Nuclear Weapons in U.S. Plans for Global Military Dominance, WSLF Information Bulletin, Spring 2002 pdf download
Nuclear Weapons in a Changed World: the Hidden Dangers of the Rush to War, WSLF Emergency Information Bulletin, Fall 2001 pdf download

Faustian Bargain 2000: Why Stockpile Stewardship is Fundamentally Incompatible with the Process of Nuclear Disarmament, April 2000

In-depth analysis of U.S. nuclear weapons programs and their relation to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Nuclear-Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the path to the elimination of nuclear arsenals. pdf download

Looking for New Ways to Use Nuclear Weapons: U.S. Counterproliferation Programs, Weapons Effects Research, and "Mini-Nuke" Development, WSLF Information Bulletin, Winter 2000-2001 pdf download

Fewer But Newer: The Role of Nuclear Weapons in U.S. Plans for Global Military Dominance,WSLF Issue Brief, Summer 2001 pdf download

Reclaiming the Comprehensive Test Ban: A Step on the Road to Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, WSLF Information Bulletin, Fall 1999 pdf download

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 2000 Review Conference: Turning Point on the Road to Nuclear Disarmament? WSLF Information Bulletin, Winter/Spring 2000 pdf download

United States Disarmament Obligations Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),WSLF Fact Sheet, Spring 2000 pdf download

Globalization and the New Arms Race: The Need for a Broader Movement for Peace, Global Equity, and Ecological Balance WSLF Information Bulletin, Summer 2000 pdf download

New Government Document Finds

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