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Prominent U.S. Physicists Ask Congress
to Forbid Use of Nuclear Weapons Against
Non-Nuclear States
February 1, 2007
By Kim McDonald
Twenty-two of the nation's most prominent physicists
asked Congress today to restrict the authority of
President Bush to order nuclear strikes against
non-nuclear-weapon states.
The physicists include twelve Nobel laureates, the
current and three past presidents of the American
Physical Society, the nation's preeminent professional
society for physicists, and the chair of the Union of
Concerned Scientists.
The physicists said their letter was prompted by ?the
rising tensions with Iran and the potential for
military confrontation, as well as the public
statement by President Bush on April 18, 2006 , that a
nuclear strike against Iran is an option ?on the
table?.?
It was initiated by Jorge Hirsch, a professor of
physics at the University of California , San Diego ,
who last year put together a petition signed by more
than 2,000 physicists that repudiated new U.S. nuclear
weapons policies that include preemptive use of
nuclear weapons against non-nuclear adversaries
(http://physics.ucsd.edu/petition/).
Physicists? Petition
?The very fact that nuclear weapon use is not being
ruled out as an option?against a state that does not
have nuclear weapons and does not represent a direct
or imminent threat to the United States?illustrates
the extent to which the Bush administration has
changed U.S. nuclear weapons policy,? said Kurt
Gottfried, chair of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
?The use of such a weapon against deeply buried
targets would create massive clouds of radioactive
fallout that could spread far from the site of the
attack, including to other nations.?
The physicists said in their letter that they ? are
firmly convinced that Congress should have a say on
which course of action would best serve the American
people on the use of the terrible weapons our
profession helped create.?
?Under present law, the President has sole authority
to order the use of nuclear weapons,? said Hirsch. ?We
could wake up tomorrow to learn that he has ordered
preemptive tactical nuclear strikes against Iran 's
underground facilities. By not legislating on this
issue, Congress is implicitly condoning and even
abetting such a potential action by the Executive.?
The letter, which is available at
http://physics.ucsd.edu/petition/physicistslettercongress.html,
points out that ?in the case of non-nuclear
adversaries there is no extreme urgency associated
with response or preemption of nuclear attack against
our country or our allies.?
?Leaving such a fundamental decision to the executive
branch of our government alone, in the absence of
imminent danger of nuclear attack, defies common
sense,? added Douglas Osheroff, a physics professor at
Stanford University and Nobel laureate who signed the
letter.
The letter echoes the main objection of last fall?s
physicists? petition to the changes in U.S. nuclear
weapons policies, as well as last year's statement by
the American Physical Society expressing ?deep
concern? about the ?possible use of nuclear weapons
against non-nuclear states and for pre-emptive
counterproliferation purposes.?
It stresses that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
will be irreversibly damaged by the use of nuclear
weapons by a nuclear nation against a non-nuclear one,
?with disastrous consequences for the security of the
United States and the world.?
?Crossing the nuclear threshold, even with a low-yield
weapon, would erase the 60-year old taboo against the
use of nuclear weapons and make their use by others
more likely,? the physicists pointed out. ? There are
no sharp lines between small ?tactical? nuclear
weapons and large ones, nor between nuclear weapons
targeting facilities and those targeting armies or
cities.?
?Presumably, Congress would not authorize the use of
nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon countries
unless under extraordinarily exceptional
circumstances,? said Andrew Sessler, a former director
of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and former president
of the American Physical Society who signed the
letter. ?The passing of such legislation would have a
very positive effect in encouraging non-nuclear
countries that presently may be considering the
development of nuclear weapons to not do so, as well
as encouraging nuclear weapons countries with small
arsenals to disarm.?
The letter concludes: ? A decision that would have a
major impact on the course of history and could
ultimately threaten the survival of civilization
should not be in the sole hands of the President
unless absolutely unavoidable. We urge Congress to
pass binding legislation to forbid the use of nuclear
weapons by the United States against countries which
do not possess nuclear weapons, except with explicit
prior Congressional authorization for such action.?
The 22 physicists who coauthored the letter are:
Philip Anderson, professor of physics at Princeton
University and Nobel Laureate in Physics; Michael
Fisher, professor of physics at the Institute for
Physical Science and Technology, University of
Maryland and Wolf Laureate in Physics; Jerome
Friedman, professor of physics at MIT and Nobel
Laureate in Physics; Kurt Gottfried, emeritus
professor of physics at Cornell University and Chair
of the Union of Concerned Scientists; David Gross,
professor of theoretical physics and director of the
Kavli Institute of Physics at the University of
California, Santa Barbara and Nobel Laureate in
Physics; John Hall, NIST senior fellow at University
of Colorado, Boulder and Nobel Laureate in Physics;
Jorge Hirsch, professor of physics at the University
of California, San Diego; Leo Kadanoff, professor of
physics and mathematics at the University of Chicago
and National Medal of Science recipient, Physical
Sciences; Wolfgang Ketterle, professor of physics at
MIT and Nobel Laureate in Physics; Daniel Kleppner,
professor of physics at MIT and Wolf Laureate in
Physics; Walter Kohn, emeritus professor of physics at
University of California Santa Barbara and Nobel
Laureate in Chemistry; Joel Lebowitz, professor of
mathematics and physics at Rutgers University and
Boltzmann Medalist; Anthony Leggett, professor of
physics at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
and Nobel Laureate in Physics; Eugen Merzbacher,
emeritus professor of physics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and former president, of the
American Physical Society; Douglas Osheroff, professor
of physics and applied physics at Stanford University
and Nobel Laureate in Physics; Norman Ramsey, emeritus
professor of physics at Harvard University and Nobel
Laureate in Physics; Edwin Salpeter, emeritus
professor of physics at Cornell University and Dirac
Medalist; Andrew Sessler, former director of Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory and former president of the
American Physical Society; Jack Steinberg er, member
of the European Center for Nuclear Research and Nobel
Laureate in Physics; George Trilling, emeritus
professor of physics at University of California,
Berkeley, and former president of the American
Physical Society; Steven Weinberg, professor of
physics at University of Texas at Austin and Nobel
Laureate in Physics; Frank Wilczek, professor of
physics at MIT and Nobel Laureate in Physics.
The physicists are submitting their letter to each of
the 535 members of the 110th Congress.
Media Contact: Kim McDonald, (858) 534-7572
Comment: Jorge Hirsch, (858) 534-3931
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