President Bush signed two strategic arms reduction agreements, but after six years in office President Clinton has failed to complete any. The U.S. and Russia still possess a combined total of more than 18,000 operational nuclear weapons, a number only slightly lower than at the end of the Cold War. Urgent resuscitation efforts are needed to keep the strategic arms reduction process alive. A Russian weapons are less secure than at any time in history.
Morale is low.
The chain of command is not intact. Threats of terrorism or an accident are greater than ever. Time is not on our side. But it will require making arms reductions a high priority and a willingness to apply the kinds of bold life support measures needed in an emergency situation. Robert K. Musil, Ph.D. is Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility.