Since taking office, the Bush administration has pursued an aggressive and radical nuclear weapons policy. Instead of moving toward a reduction in our stockpiles, the Bush administration has attempted to update and expand our nuclear arsenal, and expand US first strike options to include nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the risk of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists and accidental launches of nuclear weapons pose grave threats to the world.

We are now at a crossroads for nuclear weapons policy. In January of 2007, four unlikely figures took up the cause of nuclear abolition: former US Senator Sam Nunn, President Clinton’s Secretary of Defense, William Perry, President Reagan’s Secretary of State, George P. Shultz, and President Nixon’s Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. This "Gang of Four" has contributed to growing bipartisan momentum for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Congress has consistently cut funding for new nuclear weapons programs and the next administration is slated to reexamine US nuclear weapon's policy.

Peace Action West's nuclear weapons campaign is seizing this window of opportunity to halt new nuclear weapons while laying the groundwork for a more comprehensive call for policies that favor nuclear disarmament. Our work will educate the public and pressure key members of Congress on this major foreign policy issue through localized grassroots pressure, legislative action and coalition work. Using the momentum we create this year, we will encourage the new administration in 2009 to take proactive leadership towards a nuclear weapons free world and non-proliferation commitments. Our work contributes to the national Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World, which represents a wide variety of grassroots groups, religious groups, and advocacy organizations calling for the US to lead global efforts towards disarmament.

Peace Action West's 2008 campaign goals

• Prevent the adoption of "Complex Transformation," a proposal by the Bush administration and Department of Energy to revamp the nation's nuclear weapons infrastructure to enable the production of a new generation of nuclear weapons.
• Eliminate funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead, a new nuclear weapon.
• Promote proactive policy alternatives that favor nuclear nonproliferation and global disarmament. Positive steps forward can include beginning to dismantle weapons, ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, increasing funding to secure loose nuclear weapons, and taking nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert.
  

You can help

The road to eliminate nuclear weapons is long, which is why we invite you to take part in our campaign today. There are a number of things you can do to promote US leadership on nuclear weapons.

1. Send an email to the presidential candidates on nuclear weapons.

2. Sign up here to receive email alerts when your action can make a difference.

3. Volunteer to collect petitions or letters to your member of Congress. We are targeting influential members of Congress with campaigns in key communities. Find out who your representative and senators are by clicking here. If your representative is one of the members of Congress listed below, click on their name to find the appropriate action for volunteers to take.

• Rep. Pelosi - Help us circulate a petition to Rep. Pelosi.
• Rep. Tauscher - Help us circulate a petition to Rep. Tauscher.
• Sen. Harry Reid - Help us circulate our online petition to Sen. Reid.