Local Opinion: U.S. should limit nuclear weapons

In October 1962, a series of crises occurred that nearly resulted in a planetary nuclear holocaust. Early that year, Russia installed missiles in Cuba that were subsequently discovered in early October. The missiles could reach nearly any major city in the U.S., and armed with nuclear capability, could destroy those cities.

John F. Kennedy was president, and our government was faced with a crisis unique to the country. Very tense and complex discussions resulted in a decision to establish a quarantine on any Soviet surface ships in the area headed to Cuba bearing evidence of weapons. Our country was abruptly mobilized with large military troop movements, nuclear armed bombers in the air, and submarines with nuclear weapons in the oceans, all being contacted to prepare for war. Multiple U.S. Navy surface ships were sent to the Caribbean to monitor Soviet submarines known to be in the area.

One Soviet submarine was a B-59 with three decision-makers on board: a political officer, the sub commander and the brigade commander, Vasili Arkhipov. The submarines were being tracked from above by U.S. aircraft, with orders to force the submarines to surface. The Soviet officers lost contact with the Russian government and were on their own. They had been given prior authorization to launch as they deemed necessary. The B-59 subs, designed for arctic warfare, were experiencing extreme overheating, and the batteries were running out of power.

The U.S. naval ships were dropping and exploding “practice depth charges” to signal the sub to surface. Frustrated, the sub commander ordered the “special weapon” to be prepared for launch. It had a nuclear warhead, 15 kilotons of power, the same power as the Hiroshima bomb. All three officers had to agree to a launch. Two agreed, but Commander Arkhipov did not. He correctly interpreted the depth charges as a signal to surface, which the submarine ultimately did. Thus Oct. 27, 1962, ended without a conflagration. If a launch had occurred, a nuclear war and the destruction of the Northern Hemisphere would have been very likely.

This story is told to show how close we came, and how one individual prevented nuclear catastrophe. There have been at least seven other instances when we came very close. Nearly all were terminated by the action of one person, utilizing human judgement instead of reliance on computer warning systems. Humans have made errors, too. The last was a false alarm in Hawaii on Jan. 13, 2018, when a technician sent out the following: “EMERGENCY ALERT. BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL”. Chaotic activity throughout the state followed until a second message 38 minutes later went out advising that the first was an error.

So, what have we learned about controlling these global terminating weapons? That we must have a different approach. Instead of restraint, the U.S. is on a frantic race to modernize and replace all our bombers, land-based missiles and submarines. So, what are other nuclear-armed countries doing? The same. All are spending huge amounts of money on weapons that no one can use without committing national and global suicide.

However, for the first time in our history, a treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons was passed by the United Nations in 2017 and entered into force in January of this year after the 50th nation ratified it. This represents our only hope as it outlaws the use, possession, manufacture, threat of use, and transfer of nuclear weapons. The goal is the global elimination of these sordid inventions of the human mind.

How many of the nuclear weapons-armed nations have signed on? None, the U.S. included. Our senators and representatives need to vigorously support this effort.