U.S. Scientists and Engineers Urge Biden To Cut U.S. Nuclear Arms Arsenal

Dec. 18, 2021 (EIRNS)—On Thursday, Dec. 16, nearly 700 U.S. scientists and engineers issued an open letter to President Biden, urging him to cut the U.S. arsenal by one-third, and to declare, for the first time, that the United States would never be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict.

The timing is apparently tied to the anticipated upcoming publication of the Nuclear Posture Review, a document each new President usually issues in the first year or two of his term. President Biden is expected to make an announcement early in 2022. However, the fact that this is happening in the context of escalating tensions between the U.S. and Russia, and the warnings by The LaRouche Organization of the danger of war, can’t be viewed as mere coincidence.

“The open letter also calls on the president to change the American practice that gives the commander in chief sole authority to order the use of nuclear weapons. Biden has been urged to add ‘an important safeguard against a possible future President who is unstable or who orders a reckless attack.’ ”

The grouping of scientists and engineers includes 21 Nobel Prize laureates, and many members of the National Academy of Sciences and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“The letter noted Mr. Biden’s own words in 2017, as he was considering his run for President, when he said that ‘it’s hard to envision a plausible scenario in which the first use of nuclear weapons by the United States would be necessary or make sense.’ ”

The open letter has been picked up by several news agencies globally.