Frequently Asked Questions
How did the campaign start?
In summer, 2007, forty-six founding organizations teamed up to form a new consortium focusing on our common vision of a nuclear weapons free world. Since then, the number of coalition partners has grown to over 100.
What does it mean to endorse or sign-on to the Campaign?
Organizations who endorse the Campaign agree to be publicly listed among the coalition partners, to provide an organizational logo to CNWFW, to receive monthly alerts and newsletters via e-mail, and to forward at least 3 e-mail alerts per year to their membership lists.
If you sign on as an individual, you will be added to the CNWFW e-mail alert list and you are encouraged to recruit more sign-ons among friends, family, and any groups to which you belong. If you add your name to the Be Free petition, then your name will be among those delivered to the Obama Administration in March, 2009.
Can any organization join?
If the leadership of the organization reviews and approves the Organizing Statement and Coalition Partner Invitation (download), then that organization can officially endorse the Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World.
Isn't this pie-in-the-sky?
Ambitious, yes. Actually, it is pie-in-the-sky to believe that the world can continue on safely with thousands of operational nuclear weapons without something, eventually going terribly wrong. This is why "cold-eyed realists" such as George Shultz and Henry Kissinger have added their voices to those of countless millions of citizens, worldwide, who support elimination of nuclear weapons.
What have you accomplished?
The Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World promoted public participation in the official comment period for the Department of Energy’s Complex Transformation plan to revamp the nuclear weapons complex and build new nuclear weapons. Between January 21 and April 30, 2008, 120,000 comments were submitted to the DOE, along with 600 testimonies delivered at hearings, most of them generated by CNWFW coalition partners. Congress subsequently cut funding for major elements of the plan.
The Campaign has also opposed new American nuclear weapons. In 2007, Congress eliminated funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW). Again in May, 2008, the full House of Representatives voted 271 to 145 to eliminate funding for the RRW from the Fiscal Year 2009 budget. Experts consider the RRW “dead” unless it is revived by the next President. This may prove to have been an important turning point on the path towards a nuclear weapons free world.
Also, as a candidate, President Obama repeatedly, explicitly stated support for the vision of a nuclear weapons free world, and it is now listed as a foreign policy goal at http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/foreign_policy/.
What is the “Organizer Log-in”?
The Organizer Log-in is a password-protected Campaign Room for coalition partner leadership. Contact Katie Heald for more information on the Campaign Room.
Is this an international organization?
The Campaign advocates a multilateral, global policy to eliminate nuclear weapons. Several of the Campaign’s endorsing organizations are international. And there are many more allied organizations which are international or located in other nations.ut our work focuses on the United States because our nation has a special role to play. America should be at the forefront of efforts to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world as quickly as possible, and in the process keep weapons materials out of the hands of terrorists. We can make America safer and help restore America’s moral authority by taking the lead in global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Practicing what we preach, by ending our own plans to produce new nuclear weapons, is an essential step in that direction.
Does the Campaign want the United States to unilaterally disarm?
The Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World does not advocate unilateral nuclear disarmament by any nation. The Campaign advocates for a global agreement to eliminate all nuclear weapons, everywhere, permanently. We encourage and would welcome unilateral steps by individual nations that could accelerate progress toward the nuclear weapons free world.
What is the Campaign’s position on nuclear power?
The Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World addresses the dangers posed by nuclear weapons.
Is it true that there are enough nuclear weapons in the world’s arsenals today to destroy the world as we know it?
Yes. Circa 2008, the world's stockpiles total over 20,000 nuclear weapons.