Updates & Resources • Friends Committee on National Legislation

Background “Proud to be an American?” What an American admiral forgets about nuclear war

In late February, Adm. Charles Richard, head of US Strategic Command, told a House committee that the innovations going into a new nuclear warhead are what make him “proud to be an American.” Monica Montgomery, FCNL's program assistant for nuclear disarmament and Pentagon spending, countered that view in this op-ed.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
By Monica Montgomery
Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Update The President’s Budget is Out: Here are Five Areas of Concern

Perhaps the best thing that can be said about President Trump’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2021 is that Congress will likely ignore it.

By Diana Ohlbaum, Amelia Kegan
Issues: Peacebuilding, Immigrants & Refugees, Environment & Energy, Economic Justice, Nuclear Weapons

Legislative Ask Support Extension of the New START Nuclear Treaty with Russia

The 2010 New START Treaty between the U.S. and Russia limits each country to 700 deployed strategic-range nuclear delivery vehicles (intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers) and 1,550 warheads on those delivery vehicles.

Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Update Hearing Emphasizes Bipartisan Support for Extending New START

At a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Dec. 4, a distinguished slate of national security experts delivered a strong message: The U.S. should extend the New START nuclear arms control treaty with Russia before it expires 14 months from now.

By Anthony Wier
Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Update Building on the Pope's Call for Nuclear Abolition

On Nov. 24, Pope Francis visited the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to renew his call for the global elimination of nuclear weapons.

By Monica Montgomery
Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Update A Day When Way Opened

Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

On Nov. 9, 1989, something that had been permanent evaporated—and the impossible suddenly, stunningly, became real.

By Anthony Wier
Issues: Peacebuilding, Nuclear Weapons

Update US Maximum Pressure Policy: Punishing the Poor and Ailing in Iran

The Trump administration doubled down on its maximum pressure policy approach to Iran with new sanctions, this time targeting Iran’s construction sector, which—according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo— is under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Issues: Nuclear Weapons, Middle East & Iran

Background End This New Arms Race

Question & Answer with DeAnne Butterfield

DeAnne Butterfield spent this summer as a Friend in Washington, a program where seasoned Friends share their experience. She is a member of FCNL’s General Committee and the Intermountain Yearly Meeting.

Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Letter FCNL Joins Coalition to Call for NDAA Measure on Diplomacy with North Korea

FCNL and nine other foreign policy organizations urged leadership of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to keep an amendment supporting diplomacy with North Korea in the final version of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Update House and Senate Head for a Showdown on Nuclear Policy

The Trump administration has been taking the U.S. down a dangerous course by seeking new nuclear weapons. Congress can change our country’s direction, but a stark divide has emerged between the two chambers through the fiscal year 2020 appropriations process: While the House rejected several of the administration’s calls for nuclear weapons funding increases, the Senate plans to fully fund—and in some cases exceed—the administration’s requests.

By Monica Montgomery
Issues: Nuclear Weapons