Updates & Resources • Friends Committee on National Legislation

Update 75 Years Later, It's Time to Call for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

I am alive today because my grandmother grew up in Shiga, Japan instead of her mother’s home of Hiroshima. I am alive today because my grandfather happened to be away from his Nagasaki school visiting family in Kyoto on Aug. 9, 1945. My family—those who were not killed by the U.S. atomic bombings—collectively survived not one but two nuclear weapon attacks, the only ones in history.

By Michelle Fujii
Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Update 75 Years After Hiroshima, Congress Must Speak Plainly About the Suffering Wrought by Nuclear Weapons

Fifty years after she survived the American nuclear attack on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, Sachiko Yasui recalled what happened when the bomb went off as she played with four other children in the road near her house:

By Anthony Wier
Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Update The Senate Armed Services Committee Wants to Speed Up a Return to Nuclear Testing. That’s a Terrible Idea.

Behind the closed doors of a secret Senate Armed Services Committee markup last week, Sen. Tom Cotton (AR) introduced an amendment, which passed on a party line vote, to provide funding to speed up a possible return to nuclear testing.

By Jeff Pudlo
Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Press Release Abandoning the Open Skies Treaty Is a Mistake

Washington, DC – The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) expressed disappointment in today’s Trump Administration announcement that it will withdraw from the long-standing, multilateral Treaty on Open Skies. Formal termination will be effective in six months.

By Timothy McHugh
Issues: Peacebuilding, U.S. Wars & Militarism, Nuclear Weapons

Update In the Shadow of the Coronavirus, Fate of New START Remains Unclear

As the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts our lives and occupies the bulk of our attention, the status of a key pact—the New START nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia—hangs in the air.

By Monica Montgomery
Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Legislative Ask Stop the New Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

Congress should stop the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent missile before it’s too late.

The United States currently fields 400 nuclear-tipped Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in land-based silos at Malmstrom, Minot, and Warren Air Force bases stretching across Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado.

Issues: Nuclear Weapons

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