- CHICAGO - Today, the Board
of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moves the minute
hand of the 'Doomsday Clock,' the symbol of nuclear danger, from nine to
seven minutes to midnight, the same setting at which the clock debuted
55 years ago. Since the end of the Cold War in 1991, this is the third
time the hand has moved forward.
-
- We move the hands taking into account both negative and
positive developments. The negative developments include too little progress
on global nuclear disarmament; growing concerns about the security of nuclear
weapons materials worldwide; the continuing U.S. preference for unilateral
action rather than cooperative international diplomacy; U.S. abandonment
of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and U.S. efforts to thwart the
enactment of international agreements designed to constrain proliferation
of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons; the crisis between India
and Pakistan; terrorist efforts to acquire and use nuclear and biological
weapons; and the growing inequality between rich and poor around the world
that increases the potential for violence and war.If it were not for the
positive changes highlighted later in this statement, the hands of the
clock might have moved closer still.
-
- The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, founded by a group
of World War II-era Manhattan Project scientists, has warned the world
of nuclear dangers since 1945. The September 11 attacks, and the subsequent
and probably unrelated use of the mail to deliver deadly anthrax spores,
breached previous boundaries for terrorist acts and should have been a
global wake-up call. Moving the clock,Äôs hands at this time
reflects our growing concern that the international community has hit the
,Äúsnooze,Äù button rather than respond to the
alarm.
-
- (Note - this was published in February, 2002. The clock
would now seem to be at least a minute closer than their seven minutes...
-ed)
-
- 1947 | Seven minutes to midnight The clock first appears
on the Bulletin cover as a symbol of nuclear danger.
-
- 1949 | Three minutes to midnight The Soviet Union explodes
its first atomic bomb.
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- 1953 | Two minutes to midnight The United States and
the Soviet Union test thermonuclear devices within nine months of one
another.
-
- 1960 | Seven minutes to midnight The clock moves in
response to the growing public understanding that nuclear weapons made
war between the major powers irrational. International scientific cooperation
and efforts to aid poor nations are cited.
-
- 1963 | Twelve minutes to midnight The U.S. and Soviet
signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty provides the first tangible confirmation
of what has been the Bulletin s conviction in recent years that a new
cohesive force has entered the interplay of forces shaping the fate of
mankind.
-
- 1968 | Seven minutes to midnight France and China acquire
nuclear weapons; wars rage in the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent,
and Vietnam; world military spending increases while development funds
shrink.
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- 1969 | Ten minutes to midnight The U.S. Senate ratifies
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
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- 1972 | Twelve minutes to midnight The United States
and the Soviet Union sign the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT
I) and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; progress toward SALT II is
anticipated.
-
- 1974 | Nine minutes to midnight SALT talks reach an
impasse; India develops a nuclear weapon. We find policy-makers on both
sides increasingly ensnared, frustrated, and neutralized by domestic forces
having a vested interest in the amassing of strategic forces.
-
- 1980 | Seven minutes to midnight The deadlock in U.S.-Soviet
arms talks continues; nationalistic wars and terrorist actions increase;
the gulf between rich and poor nations grows wider.
-
- 1981 | Four minutes to midnight Both superpowers develop
more weapons for fighting a nuclear war. Terrorist actions, repression
of human rights, and conflicts in Afghanistan, Poland, and South Africa
add to world tension.
-
- 1984 | Three minutes to midnight The arms race accelerates.
Arms control negotiations have been reduced to a species of propaganda.
. . . The blunt simplicities of force threaten to displace any other form
of discourse between the superpowers.
-
- 1988 | Six minutes to midnight The United States and
the Soviet Union sign a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear
forces (INF); superpower relations improve; more nations actively oppose
nuclear weapons.
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- 1990 | Ten minutes to midnight The clock, redesigned
in 1989, reflects democratic movements in Eastern Europe, which shatter
the myth of monolithic communism; the Cold War ends.
-
- 1991 | Seventeen minutes to midnight The United States
and the Soviet Union sign the long-stalled Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
(START) and announce further unilateral cuts in tactical and strategic
nuclear weapons.
-
- 1995 | Fourteen minutes to midnight Further arms reductions
are stalled while global military spending continues at Cold War levels.
Nuclear leakage from poorly guarded former Soviet facilities is recognized
as a growing risk.
-
- 1998 | Nine minutes to midnight India and Pakistan go
public with nuclear tests. The United States and Russia can t agree on
further deep reductions in their stockpiles.
-
- 2002 | Seven minutes to midnight Little progress is
made on global nuclear disarmament. The United States rejects a series
of arms control treaties and announces it will withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic
Missile Treaty. Terrorists seek to acquire and use nuclear and biological
weapons.
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