AFF/NUCLEAR: DECISION RULE – THE FEWER NUCLEAR WEAPONS THERE ARE, THE BETTER

AFF/NUCLEAR: DECISION RULE — THE FEWER NUCLEAR WEAPONS THERE ARE, THE BETTER

DECISION RULE: SMALLER ARSENALS ARE BETTER

Bruce G. Blair, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, "The Last 15 Minutes," May 1996 Briefing Book on Ballistic Missile Defense; The Front Lines of Defense: Controls and Alert Rates of Missiles http://www.clw.org/ef/bmdbook/contents.html // ACS

Reducing the size of the arsenals

The smaller the number of weapons in the arsenals, the fewer the opportunities for accidents or deviant actions in the field. Smaller arsenals would not affect the risk of an inadvertent or unauthorized attack initiated at the upper rungs of the chain of command, but the consequences could be less devastating than an attack involving large arsenals.

BEST WAY TO CONTROL NUCLEAR WEAPONS IS TO HAVE FEWER OF THEM

William D. Hartung and Michelle Ciarrocca, the World Policy Institute Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2000, SECTION: Opinion; Part M; Page 2; HEADLINE: THE WORLD / MISSILE DEFENSE; PENTAGON SPELLS 'SAFETY' N-M-D //ACS-LN-2/4/2000

Missile-defense advocates tend to gloss over what is really at stake here: four decades of arms-controls and arms-reduction initiatives. Let's face it, the only really effective means to safeguard against nuclear weapons is by seeking ways to eliminate nuclear weapons altogether. But the United States has placed arms control on the back burner.

THE BEST DEFENSE IS TO STOP NUCLEAR WEAPONS FROM EVER BEING BUILT

EDITORIAL; The Seattle Times, October 03, 1999, Pg. B10 HEADLINE: THE BEST NUCLEAR BOMB IS THE ONE NEVER BUILT // ln-acs

Ensuring bombs are not built remains the best defense.

REDUCING NUMBER OF RUSSIAN MISSILES IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO REDUCE THE NUCLEAR WAR THREAT

Philipp Bleek, Federation of American Scientists;. Frank von Hippel professor of public and international affairsPrinceton University. The Washington Post, December 12, 1999, SECTION: OP-ED; Pg. B09 HEADLINE: Missile Defense: A Dangerous Move //acs-ln-12-22-99

Negotiating a START III agreement with Russia would be a far more effective way to reduce the nuclear threat to the United States. Such an agreement would allow almost 4,000 Russian missile warheads to be removed from their launchers by the end of 2007.