There is no doubt that we are living in dangerous times. When our national enemies may have made significant inroads in our political process by funding select candidates which may ultimately be beholden to overtly or covertly executing policies favorable to foreign regimes or stifling policies which may provide for a stronger America.
According to the Washington Post...
"Nuclear Warhead Cut From Spending Bill - Congress Instead Seeks 'Weapons Strategy'"
"Congress has cut all funding for continuing development next year of a new nuclear warhead from the omnibus domestic spending bill, handing the Bush administration a significant setback."
Knowing how much Congress and their weasel staffers can be trusted with "sensitive" or classified information...
"Instead, the measure, which Congress expects to vote on this week, directs the administration to develop and submit to lawmakers a "comprehensive nuclear weapons strategy for the 21st century," according to the draft report of the appropriations bill."
"That strategy, to be prepared by the departments of Defense and Energy plus the intelligence community, is to contain a mission assessment of the new strategic nuclear deterrent, a definition of the weapons stockpile needed to carry it out, and the modernized weapons complex that could produce it and keep it reliable, the conference report says".
Apparent concern for the process by stating the uncontestable obvious...
"Moving forward on a new nuclear weapon is not something this nation should do without great consideration," said Rep. Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that handles funding of the nuclear weapons program. With the end of the Cold War and a new threat from terrorists seeking nuclear materials, Visclosky said, "the U.S. needs a comprehensive nuclear defense strategy, and a revised stockpile plan to guide the transformation and downsizing of the complex . . . to reflect the new realities of the world."
$15 MILLION is chump change in a government willing to bail financial institutions out to the tune of BILLIONS...
"Lawmakers directed that the $15 million approved last summer for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program (RRW) be used for a new science program, termed Advanced Certification. That initiative would close gaps in the program currently used to certify that nuclear weapons retain their potency without the need for underground testing."
Have our nuclear labs been compromised by politicalization is one of the most important questions of our time...
Such gaps, the conferees noted, were first pointed out in a report this summer by an independent advisory group. "Jason," a group of scientists that regularly advises the government on nuclear defense matters, recommended additional scientific steps along with independent peer review, rather than having one of the nation's nuclear labs overseeing the work of another.
Short-cuts , work-arounds and make-do's have no place in nuclear weaponry...
A spokesman for the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration, which runs the RRW program, announced disappointment in the conferees' action, saying it means "we will likely have to go down a path of a full-life extension program for nuclear weapons in our stockpile, which in the long run will be more costly, without introducing modern safety and security measures into our weapons."
Many readers might believe that I am exaggerating or overstating my case. To these readers, I direct your attention to the bottom of this blog post and suggest you read the Cox report. A small amount of information has been included here to make my point about our need to treat this matter seriously and without politicalization.
What can YOU do?
Avoid electing candidates and returning elected officials who are beholden to the far-left "anti-nuclear" peace proliferation movements which seek to disarm America in an increasingly dangerous world. These are the people who sincerely believe that America is the problem and that the other nuclear powers such as China and Russia have pure intentions and would never seek global or regional domination. These "peaceniks" are dangerously naive people with dangerous ideas that are often introduced into the government by pandering to special interests who provide campaign funding.
Fully fund the United States Military and our nuclear arms program to fulfill the primary constitutional goals of our nation: protection from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. This primacy demands a full and complete budgetary allowance with no provisions for playing politics with the numbers. The actual numbers should be classified and information relating to our defense programs should be tightly held by non-political, career personnel who have been fully vetted against sleeper spies and malcontents. The FBI and any other agency which has been politicized should be relieved of their responsibility to investigate government personnel at any level involving critical weapons or military information. This vetting process should be executed by the ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) which would be given an adequate personnel strength and budgetary allotment to fulfill their mission.
Demand that any politician, staffer, government or civilian employee who leaks CNWDI (Critical Nuclear Weapons Design Information) be given, at the minimum, life imprisonment. That any politician or staffer who leaks classified information relating to our nuclear defense and deterrent capabilities be immediate censured and forced from office without retaining any perks, privileges or retirement benefits... and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We are not speaking of a bogus leak such as the one that did not occur in the Valerie Plame affair: we are speaking of a damaging release of military-grade weapons or defense-related classified information.
Demand further protections for whistle-blowers who deal with classified information and establish a classified mechanism to hear their concerns. The mechanism can be something akin to a classified FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court.
Demand that the United States Navy be given the oversight responsibility for our nuclear stockpiles. Why the Navy, you may be asking? Because the Navy is the ONLY branch of service with direct accountability for any and all decisions. An naval officer is responsible for the well-being, training and performance of the men and women in their command. No ifs, ands or buts! They are responsible if they are awake or asleep. There is very little dispersion of responsibility and equivocation over command responsibilities is almost non-existent. The highest ranking person present at an unfortunate incident, even if they are not directly in the chain of command of those who created or exacerbated the problem is just as responsible as if they had issued a direct order. In the absence of SAC (Strategic Air Command) with its "no tolerance for mistakes or slipshod performance," the Navy seems to be the best qualified mechanism for controlling our nuclear stockpiles and supervising civilian personnel.
Protect against another CLINTONIAN event such as the unauthorized technology transfer which occurred between Loral and the Chinese government. We need more scrutiny over those foreign nationals studying in our country and tighter controls on civilian contractors doing business with foreign entities.
There is no doubt in my mind that we are at the crossroads of history when great damage can be done to the United States by our elected officials. It is up to the people to demand that all branches of the government set aside politics in favor of mounting a fearsome offense that will have value as a deterrent and a competent defense which will insure our survivability.
Most of our educational institutions, as well as other institutions, have been infiltrated by the far-left who wish us nothing but harm. We are slowly being destroyed from within by politicians who have been bought-and-paid-for by special interests who value the dollar over democracy. It is now time to say: enough!
Consider the impact of the far-left on today's democrat party and their constant refusal to ignore cost-effective nuclear energy as a national priority for energy independence... even though we have 40+ years of design experience and better materials today. It is analogous to the far-left's campaign against DDT which was not based in science and which resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent people from easily controlled mosquito-born disease vectors -- all in the name of protecting the environment from an unproven threat.
Do not vote for any candidate or current politician who is willing to subvert the safety, security, sovereignty and economic strength of the United States or limit an individual's right of self-defense for personal power, prestige or profits.
-- steve
A reminder from OneCitizenSpeaking.com: a large improvement can result from a small change…
The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
For those who think I am exaggerating...
"In addition, in the mid-1990s the PRC stole, possibly from a U.S. national weapons laboratory, classified thermonuclear weapons information that cannot be identified in this unclassified Report. Because this recent espionage case is currently under investigation and involves sensitive intelligence sources and methods, the Clinton administration has determined that further information cannot be made public without affecting national security or ongoing criminal investigations."
"The W-88, a miniaturized, tapered warhead, is the most sophisticated nuclear weapon the United States has ever built. In the U.S. arsenal, it is mated to the D-5 submarine-
launched ballistic missile carried aboard the Trident nuclear submarine. The United States learned about the theft of the W-88 Trident D-5 warhead information, as well as about the theft of information regarding several other nuclear weapons, in 1995. ""The PRC has stolen U.S. design information and other classified information for neutron bomb warheads. The PRC stole classified U.S. information about the neutron bomb from a U.S. national weapons laboratory. The U.S. learned of the theft of this classified information on the neutron bomb in 1996."
"In the late 1970s, the PRC stole design information on the U.S. W-70 warhead from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The U.S. government first learned of this theft several months after it took place. The W-70 warhead contains elements that may be used either as a strategic thermonuclear weapon, or as an enhanced radiation weapon (“neutron bomb”). The PRC tested the neutron bomb in 1988."
"The Select Committee is aware of other PRC thefts of U.S. thermonuclear weapons-related secrets. The Clinton administration has determined that further information about PRC thefts of U.S. thermonuclear weapons-related secrets cannot be publicly disclosed without affecting national security."
About "JASON"
"JASON is an independent scientific advisory group that provides consulting services to the U.S. government on matters of defense science and technology. It was established in 1960."
"JASON typically performs most of its work during an annual summer study, and has conducted studies under contract to the Department of Defense (frequently DARPA and the U.S. Navy), the Department of Energy, the U.S. Intelligence Community, and the FBI. Approximately half of the resulting JASON reports are unclassified. "
"A selection of recent JASON studies is offered below. "
- Reliable Replacement Warhead Executive Summary, JSR-07-336E, September 7, 2007
"NNSA asked JASON to conduct a technical review of the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW), with a focus on the LLNL/Sandia design."
FYI: The name Jason is not an acronym as popularly supposed, standing for July-August-September-October-November after the months when meetings occurred, but a reference to a Greek mythological hero; as in Jason and the Argonauts and the search for the Golden Fleece.
Reference Links:
Nuclear Warhead Cut From Spending Bill - washingtonpost.com
"This three-volume Report is a declassified, redacted version of the Final Report. The Final Report was classified Top Secret when issued on January 3, 1999, and remains so today."
Comments