IP: from What's New

[David Farber <dfarber () earthlink net>]

1. NUCLEAR POSTURE REVIEW: LEAKED DOCUMENT IGNITES HEATED DEBATE.
For more than half a century, the sole use for US nuclear weapons
has been to deter a nuclear attack.  For a decade, US policy had
been to maintain existing weapons under a Science-Based Stockpile
Stewardship Program.  As What's New has repeatedly warned (WN 11
Jan 02), that has all changed.  This week, a classified Pentagon
report, The Nuclear Posture Review, suddenly appeared on various
web sites.  It describes a plan to develop a new class of small
nuclear weapons for a nuclear strike force, even while calling
for deep cuts in strategic weapons.  This has ignited a healthy
public debate over nuclear policy in a post 9/11 world.  It's all
reminiscent of the 1971 publication of the Pentagon Papers by the
New York Times.  We aren't telling who the Daniel Ellsberg is in
the Nuclear-Posture leak, but conscientious government employees
who are willing to risk their careers by leaking classified
documents may be the only check on government excesses carried
out behind the screen of national security.

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