Join in WAND’s campaign
Congress Meets the Community
In the next year, Congress will play an essential role in setting the agenda for vital security and budget priority issues.

Let them know how you feel! We can help. Find out more about how to set up a meeting.

FEDERAL BUDGET WATCH

Federal budget officially released May 8, 2009

To recap our plot so far: In February, the administration released the initial details of its proposed FY10 federal budget; it is seeking $533.8 billion in funding for the Department of Defense (which does not include funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan or the nuclear weapons related activities of the Department of Energy). Adjusted for inflation, the $534 billion request is $9 billion, or 1.7 percent, more than Congress approved for the Defense Department for FY09.

On April 6, Defense Secretary Gates released some details on the Pentagon’s request, including termination of some weapons systems. These included: F-22 Fighter; C-17 Transport Aircraft; Presidential Helicopter; DDG-1000 “Zumwalt” class destroyer; vehicle component of the Future Combat System (FCS); and more.

On May 8, the administration released the full budget request; this included $130 billon to support “Overseas Contingency Operations” (aka military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan). Until now, the government has funded military operations through special supplemental appropriations packages.

WAND senior policy director Marie Rietmann offers this analysis:

What this budget means to us WAND women is that there is still more excess spending to be identified, and we can help with that. We will be working to help make more changes in the FY11 military budget. Secretary of Defense Bob Gates made a good start in his April 6 “move toward a military strategy that is shaped by the world we actually inhabit.” (That phraseology from Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek April 20.) It is important to note that the FY10 military budget is the largest since WWII (adjusted for inflation), and it is an increase over FY09. So we have much work to do.

Analysis of the Fiscal Year 2010 Pentagon Spending Request
by Christopher Hellman | Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation | May 8, 2009

Obama touts $17 billion 'lot of money' budget cuts
Washington Post | By TOM RAUM and ANDREW TAYLOR | May 7, 2009

Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden's top economic aide, said in an interview that the value of the budget cuts goes beyond their monetary value. "We need to take that kind of close look, that kind of scrutiny, of all the government spending that we're doing," he said…

Stanley Collender, a former congressional budget expert, said that $17 billion in cuts was significant in these recessionary times when increased spending is deemed to be more justified than usual. Furthermore, Obama had used the cuts to offset some of his proposed spending increases.

That was a nod to fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats, said Collender, now with Qorvis Communications, a Washington consulting firm. "Are the cuts enough to balance the budget? No, of course not. But that wasn't the point," he said

NUCLEAR NOTES

The Trouble With Zero
New York Times | By PHILIP TAUBMAN | May 9, 2009

...Even as the allure of disarmament grows, the obstacles seem as daunting as ever. Going to zero, as the nuclear cognoscenti put it, is a deceptively simple notion; just about everyone who knows nuclear weapons agrees it would be wickedly difficult to achieve.

That’s because it would require a sea change in a dizzying array of defense matters, ranging from core defense policies to highly technical weapons programs...

The End of the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW)

From the official White House document: "The Administration proposes to cancel development of the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) -- a new design warhead intended to replace the current inventory of nuclear weapons -- because it is not consistent with Presidential commitments to move towards a nuclear-free world."

Read more about the President's budget here.

Also, the Energy Department's (under)funding of nuclear non-proliferation programs is a disappointment to many. Although some of us expected this budget category to go up dramatically, it actually dropped slightly. At first glance, it does look like there is an increase; but this is because the Energy Department employed an accounting gimmick, shifting the "MOX" (or mixed oxide) fuel plutonium disposition facilities from the Nuclear Energy category to the Nuclear Nonproliferation category.

In fact, many of the most crucial non-proliferation programs were reduced - including the "Global Threat Reduction Initiative" that reduces and protects vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials located at civilian sites worldwide and the "Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development" that employs the national laboratories to develop non-proliferation and verification technologies.

WAND's public policy field director Kathy Crandall Robinson reports:

The parties to the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) are meeting in New York May 4-15 for a Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) leading up to next year’s Review Conference that will strive to strengthen the Treaty and nuclear non-proliferation efforts.

The NPT contains the only binding multilateral commitment to nuclear disarmament and is the foundation for nuclear non-proliferation efforts. For more on the NPT and PrepCom activities see Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s excellent “Reaching Critical Will” website.

Expert Groups Largely Back Obama's Nuclear Stance
By Walter Pincus | Washington Post | May 2, 2009

Two bipartisan panels of nuclear weapons experts are endorsing much of President Obama's ambitious arms-control effort in advance of next week's nonproliferation talks here between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

A congressionally mandated commission will recommend next week that the United States resume the lead in international efforts to prevent further proliferation of nuclear weapons. The U.S. government should declare that it will rely less on such weapons and seek to reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles through extension of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (START), according to the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States. But, the commission said, it also should maintain "an appropriately effective nuclear deterrent force."

Seven Questions: Hans Blix
Foreign Policy | April 2009

Hans Blix : I think most of those who saw the pictures that were coming from Coventry, Stalingrad, Dresden, Guadalcanal, and Hiroshima, and then lived through 45 years of the often nerve-testing Cold War, became strongly programmed to strive for a world with fewer weapons. Those who have come to political consciousness after the end of the Cold War do not have the memories of the deadly tensions that existed. They march in the streets against global warming -- which is fine -- but they need to wake up to the reality that there is more than one "inconvenient truth." The world is in an economic and environmental crisis, yet it is still spending about $1.3 trillion a year on the military. There are still over 20,000 nuclear warheads around, and more states and nonstate actors may seek to go nuclear. Until recently, moreover, we had a U.S. administration that repeated as a mantra that "all options are on the table."

As 9/11 is gradually fading, confidence in militarism gradually failing, and interdependence rapidly accelerating, the chances are now good that we shall move toward a revival of disarmament. But it won't come automatically. We need all to work and argue for it. The military-industrial complexes are alive and well almost all over the world.

WAND's public policy field director Kathy Crandall Robinson reports:

On May 6, 2009, the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States released its much anticipated final report. The Report was established by a congressional request (in the FY 2008 Defense Authorization) and the congressionally-appointed, bipartisan Commission consisted of six Democratic appointees and six Republican appointees. The Commission was instructed “to examine and make recommendations on the long-term strategic posture of the United States.” William J. Perry, former Secretary of Defense for President Clinton, chaired the Commission and former Secretary of Defense, James R. Schlesinger, served as the Commission’s vice-chair.

Despite sharp divides and flawed analyses on crucial issues like the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the role of nuclear deterrence, the report does advocate reducing the size of U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals and sustaining and strengthening the global nonproliferation regime. For example, the report states: “The moment appears ripe for a renewal of arms control with Russia, and this bodes well for a continued reduction in the nuclear arsenal. The United States and Russia should pursue a step-by-step approach and take a modest first step to ensure that there is a successor to START I when it expires at the end of 2009.” See more about Commission Report from the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation’s analysis.

The Obama administration is working on its own required Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) which is expected to be complete by the end of this year or early 2010. Most observers note that the Obama NPR is likely to be more important and to be more clearly aligned with the Administration’s stated nuclear disarmament goals.

IRAQ UPDATES

Pelosi, in Surprise Visit to Baghdad, Promises 'Intense' U.S. Political Role
Washington Post | By Anthony Shadid and Nada Bakri | May 11, 2009

Pelosi, an opponent of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, arrived for a surprise one-day visit to Baghdad for talks with Iraqi officials aimed in part at charting a changing relationship -- one in which the United States seems sure to exercise decisive influence, but with less sway than it had in the aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein's government.

The talks focused on challenges in that relationship: the U.S. role in helping broker boundary disputes between Iraq's Arab and Kurdish regions, cooperation in intelligence to fight a lingering insurgency as the U.S. military presence diminishes, and efforts to combat sometimes spectacular corruption that has undermined faith in the Iraqi government.

"We will have intense political involvement as we go forward," Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at a brief news conference

NEWS FROM WiLL

Nearly 400 women state legislators sign onto a letter to Congress about our federal budget priorities
Legislators from across the country urge Congress to support the administration’s moves to change priorities in Pentagon budget: shift dollars away from Cold War weapons and toward a new approach to security. Letter | Press release

At the WAND 2009 Mother's Day event in Cambridge, MA, we saluted longtime WiLL member Sen. Pam Resor (MA) (right).

Faith in Action

Announcing a NEW edition of WAND's Faith Seeking Peace curriculum!
Faith Seeking Peace is curriculum primarily for the Christian communities.

• Download the curriculum from this page;
• or use this order form to request professionally printed copies for your group.

IDEAS, VISIONS, RESOURCES FOR A BETTER WORLD

• Click here for amazon.com. (You won't even see it happen.)
• Click here for iGive.com. (You'll need to specify WAND Education Fund as your cause.)
• Click here for GoodShop. (You'll need to specify WAND Education Fund as your cause.)

And it's not just books! Oh, no. It's toys, groceries, DVDs, magazines, and even gift certificates! It's all good.

LOOKING FOR JOBS?