Bush Pushes Nuclear Weapons Development in US
By Sarah Olson
t r u t h o u t | Report
Friday 01 September 2006
In the face of increased Congressional opposition to US nuclear weapons development,
the Bush administration appears to be making an end run around governmental
checks and balances. The bizarrely named Divine Strake project is a 700-ton
explosive experiment, first scheduled to detonate at the Nevada Test Site in
June of this year. Thanks to furious grass-roots opposition to the proposal,
Divine Strake has been twice delayed, and is currently projecting a detonation
date of no sooner than early 2007.
But as the Department of Defense attempts to justify this explosion, many say
the government is simply obfuscating and delaying: the blast, they say, is a
simulated nuclear explosion designed to provide important test and calibration
data for existing and possibly new nuclear weapons. It will happen at the Nevada
Test Site after the elections, and it will kick up a 10,000-foot mushroom cloud
potentially full of Cold War-era radioactive dust.
Further, as the UN Security Council deadline for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment
program passes, and hostilities throughout the Middle East increase, many find
the possible threat of US nuclear weapons development to be an unnecessary exacerbation
of hostilities. The Bush administration, they say, is engaging belligerent nuclear
swashbuckling, and as a result, it is putting US citizens in danger.
What Is Divine Strake and Why Should We Care?
Divine Strake is a planned test explosion managed by the Department of Defense's
combat support organization, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). According
to DTRA spokesperson Irene Smith, "Divine Strake would consist of a surface
detonation of 700 tons of ammonium nitrate-fuel oil, or ANFO, above a tunnel,
constructed for multiple research efforts. The amount of explosive was selected
to produce the energy needed to cause differing levels of ground shock - severe
to light - along the length of the tunnel."
Divine Strake is not a nuclear weapons test; it's also not a conventional weapons
test. It is simply 700 tons of explosives deposited into the ground and detonated.
According to Smith "Divine Strake would not use a nuclear device or nuclear
weapon materials, and would not test a weapon." Perhaps it is the uncertainty
of precisely what Divine Strake is all about that has local activists so concerned;
that, and the threat of a 700-ton explosive disturbing the Cold War-era radioactive
dust.
In addition to postponing the Divine Strake test after activists protested,
the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which manages the Nevada
Test Site, was also forced to withdraw its finding of no significant impact
regarding the environmental impact of the explosion at the Nevada Test Site.
In a May 26th press release, NNSA announced: "This action is being taken
to clarify and provide further information regarding background levels of radiation
from global fallout in the vicinity of the Divine Strake experiment. Atmospheric
testing of nuclear weapons by several countries in the 1950s and 1960s resulted
in the dispersion of radioactive fallout throughout the northern hemisphere.
The efforts of the Nevada Site Office are focused on explaining, in a means
clearly understandable to all, what background radiation from this fallout means
with respect to the contemplated Divine Strake experiment."
According to DTRA's Irene Smith, "NNSA and DTRA are developing a plan
that would permit the experiment if it is determined that Divine Strake can
be conducted safely, in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act,
and there is a favorable court ruling on legal proceedings regarding the experiment.
DTRA is also assessing other possible sites for the experiment."
Bedford, Indiana was one of those sites until Wednesday when DTRA confirmed
it would not seek to detonate Divine Strake in a limestone quarry there. John
Blair is the director of the Indiana-based environmental group Valley Watch.
"When I learned about Divine Strake coming to Indiana, I sent out an email
and I said something kind of bold - that this will only happen over my dead
body. And I kind of meant it." With the risk to Indiana averted, Blair
says he and other activists will turn some of their attention to helping west
coast activists defeat Divine Strake.
There are two largely interconnected types of objection to the Divine Strake
explosion. The first is that Divine Strake appears to be a test to simulate
a nuclear weapons explosion, and as such it puts the United States on a path
towards a new generation of nuclear weapons. The second is that if Divine Strake
were to be detonated at the Nevada Test Site, the blast is likely to unsettle
radioactive dust from the Cold War-era nuclear tests.
"Slippery Slope"
Utah Congressman Jim Matheson wrote DTRA's director that he was greatly concerned
that Divine Strake was an attempt to build low-yield nuclear devices. The DTRA
budget, Matheson writes, "states that the demonstration 'will develop a
planning tool that will improve the warfighter's confidence in selecting the
smallest proper nuclear yield necessary to destroy underground facilities while
minimizing collateral damage.' That sounds like preparation for a low-yield
nuclear weapon to me."
While DTRA's Irene Smith declined to comment on whether Divine Strake would
provide information for nuclear weapons, she did say that it "is part of
the Hard Target Defeat program that develops and demonstrates new weapons, delivery
concepts and planning capabilities to defeat hard and deeply buried targets.
The improved computer model planning tools that are expected from the Divine
Strake experiment could eventually help give combatant commanders greater operational
flexibility and confidence in their ability to defeat hardened and deeply buried
targets."
In general, DTRA has been reticent on whether they were testing for the effects
of nuclear weapons, but they officially declined to rule it out. Hans Kristensen,
at the Federation of American Scientists, reported that on April 3rd, DTRA acknowledged
in written correspondence that Divine Strake was "a low-yield nuclear weapons
calibration simulation against an underground target."
This confirmation alarmed peace and environmental activists. "The reason
you want to see the effect of the impact of a weapon is to see if the weapon
works," says Vanessa Pierce, director of the environmental advocacy group
HEAL Utah.
"This really does represent a slippery slope to creating a new generation
of nuclear weapons," says Pierce. She says the Bush administration has
consistently pushed for a nuclear weapons program, and Congress has consistently
said no.
According to Pierce, Divine Strake represents a thwarting of Congressional
will. Traditionally, funding for nuclear weapons goes through the Department
of Energy. However, Pierce explains, funding for Divine Strake was obtained
through the Department of Defense. By wrapping Divine Strake funding inside
the defense budget and decoupling it from traditional nuclear funding sources,
the Bush administration succeeded in funding a program that neither Congress
nor the public wants.
And this is done in the face of increased global tension regarding nuclear
weapons development programs. "The hypocrisy is incredible. You cannot
preach temperance from a barstool. And that's precisely what the Bush administration
is doing," says Pierce. "Divine Strake sends a message to other nations.
It escalates the value of nuclear weapons in the eyes of those who seek to attack
this country."
"Children of the Bomb"
J. Truman is the director of Downwinders, an organization advocating for the
rights of those downwind from Cold War-era atomic testing at the Nevada Test
Site. He was born in 1951, the year the atomic testing started. "It was
like a big carnival," Truman says. "We were encouraged to go watch
history being made. The government said there was no danger."
First the sheep in the area started dying. Then people began to die too. A
1997 National Cancer Institute Study - the most comprehensive study of the effects
of atomic testing at the Nevada Test Site to date - estimated fallout from nuclear
weapons testing generated anywhere from 10,000 to 75,000 cases of thyroid cancer.
Political activism in the 1980s revealed documents admitting the government
knew the danger to downwind populations, even at the time of the tests.
According t0 Truman, this disaster is easily repeatable. "Divine Strake
is just a steady step toward resuming testing. Another round of nuclear weapons
development could make us all downwinders."
A lawsuit filed on behalf of two Western Shoshone tribes and downwinders from
Nevada and Utah is attempting to stop Divine Strake based on these same health
concerns. Attorney Robert Hager accused the Department of Defense and Bechtel
of Nevada of "junk science" and intentionally failing to conduct proper
soil samples.
Toxic exposure expert Richard Miller and Physicians for Social Responsibility
both filed papers in support of the lawsuit. Miller wrote that "insufficient
research [has been done] regarding the health effects of many of the potential
radio isotopes possibly buried in the soil that may be entrained in the dust
cloud as a result of the Divine Strake event."
Dr. Thomas Fasy is with the executive committee of the New York chapter of
Physicians for Social Responsibility. Fasy argues: "to a reasonable degree
of medical and scientific certainty ... the 'Divine Strake' explosion would
disperse large amounts of radioactive particles into the atmosphere ... millions
of citizens living downwind ... are at risk of inhaling particles." Fasy
also believes "it is virtually certain that this inhalation of radioactive
particles would result in an increased frequency of a variety of cancers in
the exposed populations. Moreover, the increased risk of developing cancers
would be borne disproportionately by the children living downwind."
Opposition to nuclear testing and nuclear weapons development isn't a radical
issue for people in the southwest, according to J. Truman. Nearly everyone knows
someone who has cancer. Nearly everyone in his generation has been affected
by the tests. "Those of us who were children of the bomb are in charge
now. We said, 'You're not going to do this to our children. To our grandchildren.
No more downwinders. Enough.'"
HEAL Utah's Vanessa Pierce agrees this is an issue shared by many in the west.
"When you lose a part of yourself because the federal government put you
in harm's way, that's not a transgression you can ever forgive or forget. This
goes to the very core of human survival."
"Divine Strake Is an Important Wake-Up Call"
Jacqueline Cabasso is the executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation.
She says it's important to understand that Divine Strake is not a nuclear weapons
test; it's a test to evaluate the effect of existing nuclear weapons. This distinction
should not mollify concern about nuclear weapons use. To the contrary.
"Operationally, nuclear weapons are more fully integrated into the US
defense plan than ever before," Cabasso says. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM)
was previously in charge of all US nuclear weapons; its arsenal has been streamlined
to include both nuclear and conventional weapons under the same roof.
Worse still, she says, the US public doesn't fully understand the reality of
US nuclear position. "There is no public discussion or debate about US
nuclear weapons. Their existence, their purpose, or their future. Yet they are
integrally related to our wars."
"In every aspect, the nuclear weapons program is moving forward. Billions
of dollars have been spent. This Divine Strake test is a tiny point of this
program that has become visible. But there are many interconnected programs
also happening just below the radar of public scrutiny." For example, on
Wednesday, even as we discussed Divine Strake, the Nevada Test Site was conducting
a subcritical nuclear test.
Divine Strake has a certain symbolic importance. The more the US appears to
be considering nuclear weapons use - appears to be moving forward with nuclear
weapons development and testing - the more other countries will consider themselves
in danger. But, Cabasso says, it's important to consider Divine Strake within
the context of the existing nuclear arsenal and the ongoing conventional weapons
testing. "This is just one of many, many ongoing tests. Divine Strake should
be seen as a wake-up call."
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