 | ISRAEL STEALS NUCLEAR WEAPONS SECRETS FROM UNITED STATES April 22, 2008 CNN Wolf Blitzer |
 | Nuclear Weapons Newsreel - Nuclear Testing A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. As a result, even a nuclear weapon with a small yield is significantly more powerful than the largest conventional explosives, and a single weapon is capable of destroying an entire city. In the history of warfare, two nuclear weapons have been detonated — both by the United States, during the closing days of World War II. The first was detonated on the morning of 6 August 1945, when the United States dropped a uranium gun-type device code-named "Little Boy" on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The second was detonated three days later when the United States dropped a plutonium implosion-type device code-named "Fat Man" on the city of Nagasaki. These bombings resulted in the immediate deaths of around 120,000 people from injuries sustained from the explosion and acute radiation sickness, and even more deaths over time from long-term effects of radiation. The use of these weapons was and remains controversial. (See Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for a full discussion.) Since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, nuclear weapons have been detonated on over two thousand occasions for testing purposes and demonstration purposes. The only countries known to have detonated such weapons are (chronologically) the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, the People's Republic of China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Various other countries may hold nuclear weapons but have never publicly admitted possession, or their claims to possession have not been verified. For example, Israel has modern airborne delivery systems and appears to have an extensive nuclear program with hundreds of warheads (see Israel and weapons of mass destruction), though it officially maintains a policy of "ambiguity" with respect to its actual possession of nuclear weapons. According to some estimates, it possesses as many as 200 nuclear warheads. Iran currently stands accused by the United States of attempting to develop nuclear weapons capabilities, though its government states that its acknowledged nuclear activities, such as uranium enrichment, are for non-weapons purposes. South Africa also secretly developed a small nuclear arsenal, but disassembled it in the early 1990s. (For more information see List of states with nuclear weapons.) Apart from their use as weapons, nuclear explosives have been tested and used for various non-military uses. Synthetic elements, such as einsteinium and fermium, created by neutron bombardment of uranium and plutonium during thermonuclear explosions, were discovered in the aftermath of the first hydrogen bomb test. |
 | US Airforce Training Video-Nuclear Weapons Broken Arrows 1/2 The Strategic Air Command (SAC) was the operational establishment of the United States Air Force in charge of America's bomber-based and ballistic missile-based strategic nuclear arsenal from 1946 to 1992. SAC also controlled the infrastructure necessary to support their operations (such as tanker aircraft to fuel the bombers and, until 1959, fighter escorts). On October 19, 1948 Lt. General Curtis Emerson LeMay took over as commander of SAC, and set about a dramatic rebuilding of the command's forces, as well as their mission. LeMay, who had masterminded the American attacks on the Japanese mainland during the war (including the firebombing of Tokyo and other cities), was a staunch believer in the power of strategic bombing: the destruction of an enemy's cities and industrial centers. LeMay believed that the existence of the atomic bomb made this type of warfare the only workable strategy, rendering battlefield conflicts essentially obsolete. Under LeMay's command, SAC became the cornerstone of American national strategic policy during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. This policy was based primarily on nuclear deterrence. In 1962 there were 282,723 personnel assigned (217,650 airmen, 28,531 civilians and 38,542 officers). SAC's motto became "Peace is Our Profession," symbolizing the intention to maintain peace through the threat of overwhelming force. LeMay was not a great believer in mutually assured destruction (MAD): he felt strongly (particularly in SAC's early years, when Soviet nuclear capability was still in its formative stages) that SAC should be prepared to carry out a preemptive and overwhelming attack on the USSR before the Soviets had a chance to do the same to the United States. From its initial handful of wartime B-29 Superfortress bombers (only a few of which were "Silverplate" aircraft capable of dropping a nuclear weapon), SAC transitioned to its first, truly intercontinental bomber, the Convair B-36. Though a major improvement over the under powered B-29, the B-36, with its six piston and four jet engines, was slow to get to its target. The insignia of The Strategic Air Command was designed by Staff Sergeant R. T. Barnes, then assigned to the 92nd Bombardment Wing, in 1951. Submitted in a Command-wide contest, it was chosen as the winner by a three judge panel. The judges were: General Curtis E. LeMay, Commander-In-Chief, Strategic Air Command [CINCSAC]; General Thomas S. Power, Vice Commander-In-Chief, Strategic Air Command; and Brigadier General A. W. Kissner, Chief of Staff, Strategic Air Command. Staff Sergeant Barnes' winning design netted him a $100 United States Savings Bond. |
 | US Airforce Nuclear Weapons Effects On Aircraft United States nuclear tests were conducted on an intermittent basis from July 1946 to October 1958. During this period, nuclear tests were conducted in groups known as "operations" or "test series", each series was a distinct operation that was organized and carried out independently of other operations. On 31 October 1958, just after it concluded the largest test series to date, the United States entered into a unilateral testing moratorium announced by President Eisenhower with the understanding that the former Soviet Union also would refrain from conducting tests. The Soviet Union honored this moratorium initially, but secretly prepared for a massive testing campaign which commenced in September 1961, and included the largest nuclear tests ever conducted. On September 15, 1961, the United States resumed testing at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) on a year-round basis with Operation Nougat. From that time to the present, tests have principally been grouped for fiscal and reporting purposes into "operations" or "series" according to the fiscal year in which they took place. For example, fiscal year 1963 tests -- which began 1 July 1962 and extended through 30 June 1963 -- were in the Operation Storax series. Important exceptions to this scheme were a number of test series conducted during 1962-63: Operation Dominic (which also been called Dominic I), conducted between 25 April and 4 November of 1962 (and thus overlapping Nougat and Storax); and which included the Department of Defense (DoD) Operation Fishbowl high-altitude tests in the Pacific. Operation Sunbeam (also known as Dominic II), four weapons effects tests conducted by the DoD at the NTS between 7 July and 17 July 1962 (concurrent with Storax) Operation Roller Coaster, four zero-yield tests conducted jointly by the US and UK at Nellis Air Force Range (NAFR) between 15 May and 9 June 1963 (concurrent with Storax). Atmospheric testing concluded with the test Dominic/Fishbowl Tightrope on 4 November 1962. The signing of the Atmospheric Test Ban Treaty on 5 August 1963 in Moscow halted all further atmospheric testing by both superpowers. The Fiscal Year based underground series was perturbed in 1976, when the federal government changed the fiscal year to begin on October 1 and end on September 30. Accordingly, the Fiscal Year 1976 series, Operation Anvil, did not end on June 30, but was extended through September 30, 1976 -- a period of 15 months. On March 31, 1976, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed to limit the maximum yield of underground tests to 150 kt. On October 2, 1992, the United States entered into another unilateral moratorium on nuclear weapons testing announced by President Bush. President Clinton extended this moratorium in July 1993, and again in March 1994 until September 1995. With the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in September 1996, the United States -- along with the other nuclear powers -- made a legal commitment never to test nuclear devices again, even though this treaty will likely never go into force due to the opposition of India. |
 | Ron Paul on Pakistan, Iran , Nuclear Weapons Ron Paul on Face the Nation, Nov 11, 2007. On Pakistan Crisis, Iran, Nuclear Weapons, States Rights, Responsibility, Private Property, and the 2nd Amendment. |
 | KOREAN BEEF: North Korea's Nuclear Weapons In April 2003, North Korean officials admitted for the first time that their nation possessed the ability to build nuclear weapons. Many experts suggest that the possible possession of nuclear weapons by a so-called rogue state such as North Korea sets the stage for a far more serious conflict than the war with Iraq. Just how should the United States try to diffuse the Korean crisis? Can diplomatic efforts succeed where they have previously failed? Will the United States have to consider military options? And just what is North Korea hoping to accomplish by fomenting this crisis? |
 | US Airforce Training Video-Nuclear Weapons Broken Arrows 2/2 The Strategic Air Command (SAC) was the operational establishment of the United States Air Force in charge of America's bomber-based and ballistic missile-based strategic nuclear arsenal from 1946 to 1992. SAC also controlled the infrastructure necessary to support their operations (such as tanker aircraft to fuel the bombers and, until 1959, fighter escorts). On October 19, 1948 Lt. General Curtis Emerson LeMay took over as commander of SAC, and set about a dramatic rebuilding of the command's forces, as well as their mission. LeMay, who had masterminded the American attacks on the Japanese mainland during the war (including the firebombing of Tokyo and other cities), was a staunch believer in the power of strategic bombing: the destruction of an enemy's cities and industrial centers. LeMay believed that the existence of the atomic bomb made this type of warfare the only workable strategy, rendering battlefield conflicts essentially obsolete. Under LeMay's command, SAC became the cornerstone of American national strategic policy during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. This policy was based primarily on nuclear deterrence. In 1962 there were 282,723 personnel assigned (217,650 airmen, 28,531 civilians and 38,542 officers). SAC's motto became "Peace is Our Profession," symbolizing the intention to maintain peace through the threat of overwhelming force. LeMay was not a great believer in mutually assured destruction (MAD): he felt strongly (particularly in SAC's early years, when Soviet nuclear capability was still in its formative stages) that SAC should be prepared to carry out a preemptive and overwhelming attack on the USSR before the Soviets had a chance to do the same to the United States. From its initial handful of wartime B-29 Superfortress bombers (only a few of which were "Silverplate" aircraft capable of dropping a nuclear weapon), SAC transitioned to its first, truly intercontinental bomber, the Convair B-36. Though a major improvement over the under powered B-29, the B-36, with its six piston and four jet engines, was slow to get to its target. The insignia of The Strategic Air Command was designed by Staff Sergeant R. T. Barnes, then assigned to the 92nd Bombardment Wing, in 1951. Submitted in a Command-wide contest, it was chosen as the winner by a three judge panel. The judges were: General Curtis E. LeMay, Commander-In-Chief, Strategic Air Command [CINCSAC]; General Thomas S. Power, Vice Commander-In-Chief, Strategic Air Command; and Brigadier General A. W. Kissner, Chief of Staff, Strategic Air Command. Staff Sergeant Barnes' winning design netted him a $100 United States Savings Bond |
 | United States Destroys Its Own Nuclear Weapons NEWS STORY Dick Cheney Announces That The United States Will Destroy Its Own Nuclear Weapons OLD NEWS STORY |
 | How Many Nuclear Weapons Do We Need? Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons ever invented. However, since the end of the Cold War, they have received little attention from the highest levels of government. There are many questions that need examination, including: * What role do nuclear weapons play in United States national security policy? * How many nuclear weapons does the United States need? * Is there a nuclear posture that can command bipartisan support? * Is the elimination of nuclear weapons feasible or desirable? Join New America Foundation's Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative and AAAS's Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy for a discussion of these and other important questions. |
 | Nuclear Test (Atomic Bomb) - WWW.OLOSCIENCE.COM [ http://www.oloscience.com ] Nuclear tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them. Testing nuclear weapons can yield information about how the weapons work, as well as how the weapons behave under various conditions and how structures behave when subjected to nuclear explosions. Additionally, nuclear testing has often been used as an indicator of scientific and military strength, and many tests have been overtly political in their intention; most nuclear weapons states publicly declared their nuclear status by means of a nuclear test. The first atomic test was detonated by the United States at the Trinity site on July 16, 1945, with a yield approximately equivalent to 20 kilotons. The first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike", was tested at the Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands on November 1, 1952, also by the United States. The largest nuclear weapon ever tested was the "Tsar Bomba" of the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961, with an estimated yield of around 50 megatons. In 1963, all nuclear and many non-nuclear states signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, pledging to refrain from testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, underwater, or in outer space. The treaty permitted underground nuclear testing. France continued atmospheric testing until 1974, while China continued up until 1980. The last underground test by the United States was in 1992, the Soviet Union in 1990, the United Kingdom in 1991, and both France and China continued testing until 1996. After adopting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996, all of these states have pledged to discontinue all nuclear testing. Non-signatories India and Pakistan last tested nuclear weapons in 1998. The most recent nuclear test was announced by North Korea on October 9, 2006. See 2006 North Korean nuclear test for more information. |
 | Iran Not Building Nuclear Weapon http://fatla00.wordpress.com/ New United States Intelligence says that the United States was wrong when the United States said that Iran was building a nuclear weapon. Video taken from Al Jazeera http://www.aljazeera.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/ http://www.cnn.com/ |
 | Nuclear Weapons Test-596-Chinese Test 22kt This pure-fission U-235 implosion fission device named "596" was China's first nuclear test. The device weighed 1550 kg. No plutonium was available at this time. 596 is the codename of the People's Republic of China's first nuclear weapons test, detonated on October 16, 1964 at the Lop Nur test site. It was a uranium-235 implosion fission device and had a yield of 22 kilotons. With the test, China became the fifth nuclear power. The People's Republic of China began developing nuclear weapons in the late 1950s with substantial Soviet assistance. The order for the Chinese nuclear weapons program, designated by the codename of "02", was given by Chairman Mao Tse Tsung himself, who believed that without a nuclear weapon China would not be taken seriously as a world power. The events of the First Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1954-55 cemented Mao's belief that unless China had nuclear weapons of its own, it would constantly be under the threat of nuclear blackmail from the United States. Prior to 1960, direct Soviet military assistance had included the provision of advisors and a vast variety of equipment. Of the assistance provided, most significant to China's future strategic nuclear capability were an experimental nuclear reactor, facilities for processing uranium, a cyclotron, and some equipment for a gaseous diffusions plant. At one point the Soviet Union even agreed to supply a prototype nuclear weapon for analysis by the Chinese; this agreement was not, however, put into effect. When Sino-Soviet relations cooled in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Soviet Union withheld plans and data for an atomic bomb, abrogated the agreement on transferring defense technology and, starting in 1960, began the withdrawal of Soviet advisors. Despite the termination of Soviet assistance, China committed itself to continue nuclear weapons development to break "the superpowers' monopoly on nuclear weapons", to ensure Chinese security against the Soviet and United States threats, and to increase Chinese prestige and power internationally, especially with France recently emerging as a new nuclear force in February 1960 (Gerboise Bleue). The motto at the time was: "Even the poorest tramp needs a dog-beating stick." The first Chinese atomic bomb, code-named 596, was detonated on October 16, 1964 at the Lop Nor nuclear test site. It was an implosion-style nuclear weapon, though it utilized uranium-235 exclusively for its core — most countries which pursue implosion technology use plutonium for their first cores, because it is usually easier to produce than uranium-235 — as at the time it had not developed plutonium-production technology. The test had a yield of 22 kilotons. China would manage to develop a fission bomb capable of being put onto a nuclear missile only two years after its first detonation, and would detonate its first hydrogen bomb only three years later in 1967. The United States intelligence agencies were caught off-guard by the Chinese test in 1964. Despite having photographed pre-test preparation at the Lop Nur nuclear testing site, many U.S. analysts believed that the Chinese were still months, if not years, away from having a functional nuclear weapon, in part because they erroneously assumed that the first Chinese bomb would be plutonium-fueled and that their Lanzhou diffusion enrichment facility was not yet operable (even though it had actually produced enough highly-enriched uranium for a number of bombs by that time). The U.S. analysts additionally misidentified a facility designed to produce uranium tetrafluoride as a plutonium production facility, making their estimates of Chinese plutonium production significantly off. It was only after radiochemical analysis of the fallout cloud from the Chinese test conclusively demonstrated that the bomb had been a U-235 implosion device, that these errors were re-examined in detail. *Credit Must Go To Trinity and Beyond by Peter Kuran for This Excellent Footage* |
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