3 questions we should ask about nuclear weapons

There are more than 10,000 nuclear weapons in existence today, each one capable of causing immense destruction. Why don’t we talk about this threat as much as some other major issues? In this practical talk, nuclear security expert Emma Belcher shares three questions you can ask your elected officials to gain a better understanding of nuclear weapons and the measures we need to stay safe.

So you know when
you're doubled over in pain

and you're wondering, is it your appendix

or maybe you ate something funny?

Well, when that happens to me,
I call my friend Sasha --

Sasha is a doctor --

and I say, "Should I rush
to the nearest emergency room

in a panic?

Or am I OK to relax and just wait it out?"

Yes, I am that annoying friend.

But in September 2017,

friends of mine were suddenly calling me

for my professional opinion.

And no, I'm not a doctor,

but they were asking me
questions of life and death.

So what was going on in September of 2017?

Well, North Korea was suddenly
and scarily all over the news.

Kim Jong-un had tested missiles

potentially capable of hitting
major US cities,

and President Trump had responded
with tweets of "fire and fury."

And there was real concern
that tensions would escalate

to a potential war

or even nuclear weapons use.

So what my friends
were calling and asking was:

Should they panic or were the OK to relax?

But really, they were asking me
a fundamental question:

"Am I safe?"

While I was reassuring them that,
no, they didn't need to worry just yet,

the irony of their question dawned on me.

What they hadn't really thought about

is that we've all been living
under a much larger cloud for decades --

potentially a mushroom cloud --

without giving it much thought.

Now it's not surprising
that friends of mine

and many others like them
don't know much about nuclear weapons

and don't think about them.

After all, the end of the Cold War,

the United States and Russia,
tension abated,

we started dismantling nuclear weapons,

and they started to become
a relic of the past.

Generations didn't have to grow up
with the specter of nuclear war

hanging over their heads.

And there other reasons people don't like
to think about nuclear weapons.

It's scary, overwhelming.

I get it.

Sometimes I wish I could have chosen
a cheerier field to study.

(Laughter)

Perhaps tax law would
have been more uplifting.

(Laughter)

But in addition to that,

people have so many other things
to think about in their busy lives,

and they'd much prefer to think
about something over which

they feel they have
some semblance of control,

and they assume that other people,
smarter than they on this topic,

are working away to keep us all safe.

And then, there are other reasons
people don't talk about this,

and one is because we, as nuclear experts,

use a whole lot of convoluted
jargon and terminology

to talk about these issues:

CVID, ICBM, JCPOA.

It's really inaccessible
for a lot of people.

And, in reality, it actually sometimes
I think makes us numb

to what we're really talking about here.

And what we are really talking about here

is the fact that,

while we've made dramatic reductions
in the number of nuclear weapons

since the Cold War,

right now, there are almost 15,000
in the world today.

15,000.

The United States and Russia have
over 90 percent of these nuclear weapons.

If you're wondering, these are
the countries that have the rest.

But they have far fewer,

ranging in the sort of
300-ish range and below.

Adding to this situation is the fact
that we have new technologies

that potentially bring us new challenges.

Could you imagine, one day,
countries like ours and others

potentially ceding decisions
about a nuclear strike to a robot,

based on algorithms?

And what data do they use
to inform those algorithms?

This is pretty terrifying.

So adding to this are terrorism potential,

cyberattacks, miscalculation,
misunderstanding.

The list of nuclear nightmares
tends to grow longer by the day.

And there are a number
of former officials,

as well as experts,

who worry that right now,
we're in greater danger

than we were in various points
in the Cold War.

So this is scary.

What can we do?

Well, thankfully,

["Duck and Cover"]

we don't have to rely
on the advice from the 1950s.

(Laughter)

We can take some control,

and the way we do that

is by starting to ask
some fundamental questions

about the status quo

and whether we are happy
with the way it is.

We need to begin asking
questions of ourselves

and of our elected officials,

and I'd like to share
three with you today.

The first one is,

"How much nuclear risk
are you willing to take or tolerate?"

Right now, nuclear policy
depends on deterrence theory.

Developed in the 1950s,

the idea is that one
country's nuclear weapons

prevents another country
from using theirs.

So you nuke me, I nuke you,

and we both lose.

So in a way, there's a stalemate.

No one uses their weapons,
and we're all safe.

But this theory has real questions.

There are experts
who challenge this theory

and wonder: Does it really work
this way in practice?

It certainly doesn't allow
for mistakes or miscalculations.

Now, I don't know about you,

but I feel pretty uncomfortable
gambling my future survival,

yours, and our future generations',

on a theory that is questionable

and doesn't allow any room for a mistake.

It makes me even more uncomfortable

to be threatening the evaporation

of millions of people
on the other side of the Earth.

Surely we can do better for ourselves,

drawing on our ingenuity
to solve complex problems,

as we have in the past.

After all, this is a man-made,

human-made --

I shouldn't say "man,"
because women were involved --

a human-made problem.

We have human solutions
that should be possible.

So, next question: "Who do you think
should make nuclear decisions?"

Right now, in this democracy,
in the United States,

one person

gets to decide whether or not
to launch a nuclear strike.

They don't have to consult anybody.

So that's the president.

He or she can decide --

within a very limited amount of time,

under great pressure, potentially,
depending on the scenario,

maybe based on a miscalculation
or a misunderstanding --

they can decide the fate
of millions of lives:

yours, mine, our community's.

And they can do this
and launch a nuclear strike,

potentially setting in motion
the annihilation of the human race.

Wow.

This doesn't have to be
our reality, though, and in fact,

in a number of other countries
that have nuclear weapons, it's not,

including countries
that are not democracies.

We created this system. We can change it.

And there's actually a movement
underway to do so.

So this leads me to my third question:

"What do your elected officials
know about nuclear weapons,

and what types of decisions
are they likely to take on your behalf?"

Well, Congress has
a very important role to play

in oversight of and interrogating
US nuclear weapons policy.

They can decide what to fund,
what not to fund,

and they represent you.

Now unfortunately,
since the end of the Cold War,

we've seen a real decline
in the level of understanding,

on Capitol Hill, about these issues.

While we are starting to see
some terrific new champions emerge,

the reality is that the general
lack of awareness

is highly concerning,

given that these people need to make
critically important decisions.

To make matters worse,

the political partisanship
that currently grips Washington

also affects this issue.

This wasn't always the case, though.

At the end of the Cold War,
members from both sides of the aisle

had a really good understanding about
the nuclear challenges we were facing

and worked together
on cooperative programs.

They recognized
that nuclear risk reduction

was far too important to allow it
to succumb to political partisanship.

They created programs

such as the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative
Threat Reduction Program,

which sought to lock down and eliminate

vulnerable nuclear material
in the former Soviet Union.

So we need to return to this era
of bipartisanship,

mutual problem-solving

that's based on understanding
and awareness about the challenges we face

and the real nuclear dangers.

And that's where you come in.

Public pressure is important.

Leaders need a constituent base to act.

So create that constituent base,

by asking them some simple questions.

Ask them, "What do you know
about nuclear weapons?"

"Do you have a nuclear expert
on your staff?

Or, if not, do you know
somebody you could refer to

if you need to make
an important decision?"

Start to find out what they believe

and whether it aligns
with your own views and values.

Ask them, "How would you choose
to spend US national treasure?

On a new nuclear arms race

or another national security priority,

such as cybersecurity or climate change?"

Ask them, "Are you willing
to put aside partisanship

to address this existential threat
that affects my survival

and your constituents' survival?"

Now, people will tell you nuclear policy
is far too difficult to understand

and complexed and nuanced
for the general public to understand,

let alone debate.

After all, this is "national security."

There needs to be secrets.

Don't let that put you off.

We debate all sorts of issues

that are critically important
to our lives --

why should nuclear weapons
be any different?

We debate health care,
education, the environment.

Surely congressional oversight,

civic participation that are
such hallmarks of US democracy,

surely they apply here.

After all, these are cases of life
and death that we're talking about.

And we won't all agree,

but whether or not you believe
nuclear weapons keep us safe

or that nuclear weapons are a liability,

I urge you to put aside
partisan, ideological issues

and listen to each other.

So I'll tell you now what I didn't have
the guts to tell my friends at the time.

No, you're not safe --

not just because of North Korea.

But there is something
you can do about it.

Demand that your elected representatives

can give you answers to your questions,

and answers that you can live with

and that billions of others
can live with too.

And if they can't,

stay on them until they can.

And if that doesn't work,

find others, who are able
to represent your views.

Because by doing so, we can begin
to change the answer to the question

"Am I safe?"

(Applause)