Scientists urge nuclear reduction
From a Times Staff Writer
A proposal to sharply cut the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and renounce first use of the bombs was offered Thursday by 95 members of the National Academy of Sciences.
The group, mostly physicists at major U.S. universities who have collectively won 23 Nobel Prizes, said that the existing U.S. weapons program was undermining the nation’s security.
Organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the group called for the U.S. to reduce its weapons inventory to 1,000 bombs, from about 4,500 to 6,000 currently, and to cease its capability to launch missiles in minutes.
Richard Garwin, designer of the first hydrogen bomb, is among the scientists -- dominated by California academics -- who signed the statement.
