A Surprise

Global Zero is an organization whose goal is to eliminate nuclear weapons from the earth.  You wouldn't think that many military men would support such an organization.  But Marine Gen. James E. “Hoss” Cartwright does support Global Zero.  And he is not your average military man: former head of the U.S. Strategic Command, he oversaw the nuclear targeting plan and thousands of warheads atop missiles and inside long-range bombers.  So he does know a fair amount about nuclear weapons.

Cartwright chaired a Global Zero group that has just published a report urging that the existing American arsenal of 5000 warheads be cut by 80 percent, in an effort meant to be matched by similar reductions in the Russian arsenal.  The group included another other military man, General Jack Sheehan, as well as Senator Hagel and two former ambassadors, Richard Burt and Thomas Pickering.

A couple of quotes:

• “No sensible argument has been put forward for using nuclear weapons to solve any of the major 21st century problems we face,”
• Nuclear deterrence, the report asserted, “is no longer a cornerstone of the U.S-Russian security relationship” but is instead “driven largely by inertia and vested interests left over from the Cold War.”

Moreover, you're looking at savings of over $10 billion a year.