From: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com (abolition-usa-digest) To: abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #217 Reply-To: abolition-usa-digest Sender: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk abolition-usa-digest Thursday, November 4 1999 Volume 01 : Number 217 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 13:11:36 -0600 From: "Boyle, Francis" Subject: (abolition-usa) RE: Stopping Malicious Looping Mailinglist 'Citizens Inspections to Prevent War Crimes' - ------------------------------------------------------- At first I too thought that using the Reply to All button was the problem. But my original messages have also been multiplied for each list. In addition, as far as I can tell, at least one other message has been put into this loop-- by Tracey Moavero, which i have gotten several times already today, as indicated below. Also, these problems have NOT occurred on any of the other lists that i have been posting on today. So my conclusion is that someone else has maliciously set up an automatic loop. fab. Dear friends, Below is the final edition of the sign-on letter to support the New Agenda resolution and the International Court of Justice resolution at the U.N. General Assembly. We have 160 organizations in 22 countries signed on. Thank you to all of our signers. We are in the process of getting this delivered to all the First Committee delegations, which should be completed by today. Keep the pressure up on your governments for positive votes! All the best, Tracy Moavero Peace Action International Office November 1, 1999 Your Excellency, As citizens' organizations working to end the threat of nuclear war, we urge your government to support two important resolutions which are before the United Nations General Assembly First Committee for consideration. The "Towards a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World: The Need for a New Agenda" resolution reflects our concerns about the urgent need for complete nuclear disarmament. The concrete steps in it lay important groundwork for moving stalled processes and creating new opportunities for progress. Far from hindering any existing efforts, this resolution strengthens them by taking them out of isolation and bringing them together to create momentum. The sponsors' commitment to building consensus is clear from this year's text, which takes into consideration concerns raised by some delegations when this resolution was considered last year. We also support the resolution affirming the 1996 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice that there exists a legal obligation to pursue and conclude nuclear disarmament negotiations. As the United Nations becomes increasingly important in enforcing the rule of law to build and keep peace, this resolution strengthens the position of the U.N. in that regard. Anything less than a strong affirmative vote would send an ambiguous message about respect for international law. The timing of these resolutions is crucial. We are distressed not only by the slow pace of progress toward disarmament, but also by the disturbing signs that nuclear arsenals are becoming even more entrenched in the security policies of some nations. Failure of the U.N. General Assembly to strongly support these resolutions at this time would send a dangerous signal to those who are trying to invigorate nuclear weapons programs. We recognize the vital role of the United Nations in fostering nuclear disarmament and see ourselves as partners in those efforts. While the undersigned organizations are from many different parts of the globe, we are working together to build support for these resolutions. NGO representatives will be using the Internet to send up-to-the-minute updates, allowing organizations around the world to closely follow First Committee proceedings and plan their work accordingly. We were pleased that the fifty-third session of the General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted these resolutions, confirming the broad support - among both civil society and governments - for swift and concerted action for complete nuclear disarmament. We await similar and even stronger results this year. Nuclear disarmament is often noted as an "ultimate goal." The time has come for that "ultimate goal" to be realized. Sincerely, (See attached list of Civil Society Organizations) Contact: Tracy Moavero Peace Action International Office 866 United Nations Plaza, Room 4053 New York, NY 10017-1822 Phone: (212) 750-5795 Fax: (212) 750-5849 Email: paintl@igc.org Signatures to the letter supporting the New Agenda and International Court of Justice resolutions Total 160 in 22 countries INTERNATIONAL (15) British-American Security Council (BASIC) For Mother Earth International Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space Grandmothers for Peace International Greenpeace International International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) International Peace Bureau (IPB) International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) International Student Movement for the U.N. Pacific Campaign for Disarmament and Security Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (PIANGO) Pax Christi International Women's Environment and Development Organization Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Working Group Eurobomb/Project on European Nuclear Non-Proliferation (PENN) AUSTRALIA (6) Australian Peace Committee (South Australian Branch) Australian Peace Committee National Office Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament Friends of the Earth Australia People for Nuclear Disarmament (Western Australia) Medical Association for Prevention of War (MEDACT SA) South Australian Branch BELGIUM (1) War Resisters International / Flemish section CANADA (6) Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Centre De Ressources Sur La Non-Violence The Simons Foundation of Canada Physicians for Global Survival Physicians for Global Survival Calgary Chapter No Nukes! DENMARK (2) Enhedslisten Aalborg Green Party FRANCE (3) Appel des Cent Pour la Paix - -----Original Message----- From: happen@pipeline.com [mailto:happen@pipeline.com] Sent: Thursday, November 04, 1999 1:04 PM To: FBOYLE@LAW.UIUC.EDU; abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com; 'Abolition Caucus List (E-mail)'; NUKENET@envirolink.org; 'TP2000'; a-days@motherearth.org Subject: Re: Stopping Malicious Looping The problem appears to be that personal responses are being made by replying to "all" rather than just the sender. Personal messages addressed to all are creating a heavy load. Some people are on multiple lists and therefore recieve duplicate (or more) messages. Scott P. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 16:39:45 -0800 (PST) From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: (abolition-usa) Abolition Global Caucus Dear Friends, I am happy to announce that Egroups.com will now host the Abolition Global Caucus. For those who were previously subscribed to the list hosted by IGC, you have automatically been subscribed to the new egroups list. Below is some information concerning the new list. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Anyone may join the global caucus. To join, simply do one of the following: 1. Send a message to the list moderator at A2000@silcom.com 2. Visit the Abolition-caucus website (shown below) and submit a membership form. 3. Visit the Abolition 2000 website and submit a membership form. 4. Send an e-mail to: abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com (leave the subject line and body of the message blank). To post a message to the caucus, send a message to: abolition-caucus@egroups.com Only members of the Abolition Global Caucus may submit a message. Messages can now be accessed from the internet. To view any posted messages or to find any other group information, please visit: http://www.egroups.com/list/abolition-caucus/ Yours In Peace, Carah Lynn Ong Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.wagingpeace.org/abolition2000 Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, please do one of the following: 1. Send a message to the list moderator at A2000@silcom.com 2. Visit the Abolition-caucus website (shown below) and submit a membership form. 3. Visit the Abolition 2000 website and submit a membership form. 4. Send an e-mail to: abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com (leave the subject line and body of the message blank). To post a message to the Abolition Global Caucus, send your message to: abolition-caucus@egroups.com To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 10:39:45 +1000 From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) 24 HOURS TO SIGN Y2K NUKE WEAPONS DE-ALERT LETTER TO US DEFENCE SECY COHEN John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html DEAR ALL: THIS LETTER IS TO BE FAXED THIS COMING SATURDAY SYDNEY TIME. (18 hours before US time, so friday US time). YOU THEREFORE HAVE ROUGHLY 24 HOURS IN WHICH YOUR ORGANISATION CAN SIGN IT. Please sign it by emailing nonukes@foesyd.org.au, with your organisations physical address and your title. It asks US Defence Secy Cohen to take nuclear weapons off alert over the y2K rollover period. If you think it's insane to have 2,000 US warheads (and 3.600 Russian ones) capable of being launched over 20 minutes, over the Y2K rollover, let secretary Cohen know. If you want to sign on to a similar letter to Yeltsin and Sergeyev, please sign the existing Yeltsin/Clinton sign on, on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html As above, sign this letter by emailing me at: nonukes@foesyd.org.au A global fax campaign will commence (or re-commence - one already exists) on Sunday November 7. My apologies for the inevitable double-postings. TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Y2K AND DE-ALERTING OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period. It is particularly disturbing that you are reported as having stated in Moscow that de-alerting of nuclear forces is 'off the table' as a stability building measure. You have also been quoted as saying that 'The better course is reduction, limiting the number of weapons, and establishing shared early warning centers'. These measures are not in competition with each other. All of them - reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting - are equally vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. We are well aware that the chief of Stratcom, Admiral Mies has said in congressional testimony in April and July 1999 that the defence department is well advanced in terms of its Y2K-remediation program. The Y2K problem is such that it is just not possible to be as certain as Mies is in his testimony. This is because very nature of this kind of problem prohibits you from being certain that every possible programming glitch is truly fixed. In fact no - one will be completely certain until the real date change itself, and indeed until well into the new year. And even if you are able to convincingly prove that US strategic nuclear computer systems are truly Y2K compliant and that they are 'fail safe', you will be well aware of the great concern that has been voiced over the Y2K readiness of Russia. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. Perimiter seems to offer additional pathways by which Y2K -related command and control failures could lead to an accidental launch of missiles, possibly by Y2K - related failures in sensors combined with system blackout fooling the system into thinking that an attack had taken place. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one. However, it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as the public is aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is itself far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The recently admitted Y2K vulnerabilities discovered, according to Reuters reports of congressional testimony, in six of the seven hotlines established during the cold war period are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September. (Text of these resolutions has been passed on to you by the deputy president of our Senate, Senator Sue West.) Mr. Clinton and Mr. Cohen, we believe that in taking De-alerting 'off the table', the United States is making a serious error. We believe that failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. In a letter in response to a sign on letter from over 270 (now 460) NGOs, Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov said that: "The questions of removing from the military duty of Russian and American nuclear armaments which you mention in your appeal may become the matter for discussion between the two countries in the context of negotiations on further limitation of the strategic nuclear weapons" This hardly indicates that De-alerting is 'off the table' as far as the Russian Government is concerned. It should be very much on the table as far as your administration is concerned. (Text of the Russian reply with english translation to our letter is enclosed). In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. Signed John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Sydney. Ak Malten, Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance, The Hague, Tom Mc Donald, British-American Security Information Council,(BASIC) London, Marion Hancock, Aotearoa Peace Foundation, Auckland, NZ., Alice Slater, Global Resource and Action Centre for the Environment, NY., Ellen Thomas, Proposition-1 Committee, Washington DC., Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri -Valley CAREs, (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment), Livermore, CA, Laurie grossman, Y2K-WASH,(World Atomic Safety Holiday) San Francisco, Carah Ong, Abolition 2000 Coordinator, - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 17:46:59 -0800 (PST) From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Listserve Difficulties Dear All, The Abolition Global Caucus listserve was infected by an individual. I did find the culprit and removed the email address from the list, but not before a worm had infected the server. Due to technical difficulties, the Abolition Global Caucus will now be hosted at Egroups.com. Thank you for your concern. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. >Mailinglist 'Citizens Inspections to Prevent War Crimes' >------------------------------------------------------- > >Dear Cara and Francis, > >The problem is clearly with the "owner-motherearth-a-days@motherearth.org" >list, since when I post to Pol and to other names using that list, I get back >the multiple replies. I've deleted NUKENET from this response, and tp20000 >because they use different providers and don't seem to be the problem (and >I've had confirmation from them that I am not on their lists and therefore >can't be getting mail from them. > >I'm also not getting posts directly from the Abolition nets - 2000 and USA. >Only when "motherearth" is in the list do I find the posts went to them. > >Don't know who has access to or control over the motherearth net but the >problem clearly is on that list. > >Thanks for your help, > >David McReynolds > ><< Subj: RE: (abolition-usa) Listserve Difficulties > Date: 11/4/99 4:34:39 PM Eastern Standard Time > From: FBOYLE@law.uiuc.edu (Boyle, Francis) > Sender: owner-motherearth-a-days@motherearth.org > To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com >('abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com'), abolition-caucus@igc.org, >tp2000.lst.grp@gn.apc.org ('TP2000'), a-days@motherearth.org >('a-days@motherearth.org'), NUKENET@envirolink.org ('NUKENET@envirolink.org') > > Mailinglist 'Citizens Inspections to Prevent War Crimes' > ------------------------------------------------------- > > Dear Carah: > I also think that person put some type of worm in there that has > infected the other anti-nuclear lists as well. Francis. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation [mailto:a2000@silcom.com] > Sent: Thursday, November 04, 1999 3:31 PM > To: abolition-caucus@igc.org; abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com > Subject: (abolition-usa) Listserve Difficulties > > > Dear Friends, > > As the list moderator for the Abolition Global Caucus and the Abolitio-USA > listserves, please allow me to apologize for the inconveniences caused by > the recent multiple postings of the same messages from certain senders. I > am currently on the phoone with our technical support and we are > determining who has infected the list serve. Consequently, the person who > set the automatic loop will be removed from the listserve. I appreciate > your patience in this matter. If you have any questions or concerns, > please feel free to contact me. Thank you for your continued support. > > Yours In Peace, > Carah > > > Carah Lynn Ong > Coordinator, Abolition 2000 > Nuclear Age Peace Foundation > 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 > Santa Barbara CA 93108 > > Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 > Email: A2000@silcom.com > Website http://www.wagingpeace.org/abolition2000 > > >> Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.wagingpeace.org/abolition2000 Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, please do one of the following: 1. Send a message to the list moderator at A2000@silcom.com 2. Visit the Abolition-caucus website (shown below) and submit a membership form. 3. Visit the Abolition 2000 website and submit a membership form. 4. Send an e-mail to: abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com (leave the subject line and body of the message blank). To post a message to the Abolition Global Caucus, send your message to: abolition-caucus@egroups.com To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 15:33:59 -0600 From: "Boyle, Francis" Subject: RE: (abolition-usa) Listserve Difficulties Mailinglist 'Citizens Inspections to Prevent War Crimes' - ------------------------------------------------------- Mailinglist 'Citizens Inspections to Prevent War Crimes' - ------------------------------------------------------- Dear Carah: I also think that person put some type of worm in there that has infected the other anti-nuclear lists as well. Francis. - -----Original Message----- From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation [mailto:a2000@silcom.com] Sent: Thursday, November 04, 1999 3:31 PM To: abolition-caucus@igc.org; abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Listserve Difficulties Dear Friends, As the list moderator for the Abolition Global Caucus and the Abolitio-USA listserves, please allow me to apologize for the inconveniences caused by the recent multiple postings of the same messages from certain senders. I am currently on the phoone with our technical support and we are determining who has infected the list serve. Consequently, the person who set the automatic loop will be removed from the listserve. I appreciate your patience in this matter. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. Thank you for your continued support. Yours In Peace, Carah Carah Lynn Ong Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1 Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805) 568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.wagingpeace.org/abolition2000 Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly receive updates about the Abolition movement. Both caucus' also provide a forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition. To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no subject) to: abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com To subscribe to the International Abolition-caucus, send a message (with no subject) to: majordomo@igc.org In the body of the message, write: "subscribe abolition-caucus" (do not include quotation marks) To post a message to the International Abolition list, mail your message to: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 10:39:45 +1000 From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) 24 HOURS TO SIGN Y2K NUKE WEAPONS DE-ALERT LETTER TO US DEFENCE SECY COHEN John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html DEAR ALL: THIS LETTER IS TO BE FAXED THIS COMING SATURDAY SYDNEY TIME. (18 hours before US time, so friday US time). YOU THEREFORE HAVE ROUGHLY 24 HOURS IN WHICH YOUR ORGANISATION CAN SIGN IT. Please sign it by emailing nonukes@foesyd.org.au, with your organisations physical address and your title. It asks US Defence Secy Cohen to take nuclear weapons off alert over the y2K rollover period. If you think it's insane to have 2,000 US warheads (and 3.600 Russian ones) capable of being launched over 20 minutes, over the Y2K rollover, let secretary Cohen know. If you want to sign on to a similar letter to Yeltsin and Sergeyev, please sign the existing Yeltsin/Clinton sign on, on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html As above, sign this letter by emailing me at: nonukes@foesyd.org.au A global fax campaign will commence (or re-commence - one already exists) on Sunday November 7. My apologies for the inevitable double-postings. TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Y2K AND DE-ALERTING OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period. It is particularly disturbing that you are reported as having stated in Moscow that de-alerting of nuclear forces is 'off the table' as a stability building measure. You have also been quoted as saying that 'The better course is reduction, limiting the number of weapons, and establishing shared early warning centers'. These measures are not in competition with each other. All of them - reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting - are equally vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. We are well aware that the chief of Stratcom, Admiral Mies has said in congressional testimony in April and July 1999 that the defence department is well advanced in terms of its Y2K-remediation program. The Y2K problem is such that it is just not possible to be as certain as Mies is in his testimony. This is because very nature of this kind of problem prohibits you from being certain that every possible programming glitch is truly fixed. In fact no - one will be completely certain until the real date change itself, and indeed until well into the new year. And even if you are able to convincingly prove that US strategic nuclear computer systems are truly Y2K compliant and that they are 'fail safe', you will be well aware of the great concern that has been voiced over the Y2K readiness of Russia. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. Perimiter seems to offer additional pathways by which Y2K -related command and control failures could lead to an accidental launch of missiles, possibly by Y2K - related failures in sensors combined with system blackout fooling the system into thinking that an attack had taken place. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one. However, it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as the public is aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is itself far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The recently admitted Y2K vulnerabilities discovered, according to Reuters reports of congressional testimony, in six of the seven hotlines established during the cold war period are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September. (Text of these resolutions has been passed on to you by the deputy president of our Senate, Senator Sue West.) Mr. Clinton and Mr. Cohen, we believe that in taking De-alerting 'off the table', the United States is making a serious error. We believe that failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. In a letter in response to a sign on letter from over 270 (now 460) NGOs, Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov said that: "The questions of removing from the military duty of Russian and American nuclear armaments which you mention in your appeal may become the matter for discussion between the two countries in the context of negotiations on further limitation of the strategic nuclear weapons" This hardly indicates that De-alerting is 'off the table' as far as the Russian Government is concerned. It should be very much on the table as far as your administration is concerned. (Text of the Russian reply with english translation to our letter is enclosed). In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. Signed John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Sydney. Ak Malten, Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance, The Hague, Tom Mc Donald, British-American Security Information Council,(BASIC) London, Marion Hancock, Aotearoa Peace Foundation, Auckland, NZ., Alice Slater, Global Resource and Action Centre for the Environment, NY., Ellen Thomas, Proposition-1 Committee, Washington DC., Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri -Valley CAREs, (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment), Livermore, CA, Laurie grossman, Y2K-WASH,(World Atomic Safety Holiday) San Francisco, Carah Ong, Abolition 2000 Coordinator, - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 10:39:45 +1000 From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) 24 HOURS TO SIGN Y2K NUKE WEAPONS DE-ALERT LETTER TO US DEFENCE SECY COHEN John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, Fax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html DEAR ALL: THIS LETTER IS TO BE FAXED THIS COMING SATURDAY SYDNEY TIME. (18 hours before US time, so friday US time). YOU THEREFORE HAVE ROUGHLY 24 HOURS IN WHICH YOUR ORGANISATION CAN SIGN IT. Please sign it by emailing nonukes@foesyd.org.au, with your organisations physical address and your title. It asks US Defence Secy Cohen to take nuclear weapons off alert over the y2K rollover period. If you think it's insane to have 2,000 US warheads (and 3.600 Russian ones) capable of being launched over 20 minutes, over the Y2K rollover, let secretary Cohen know. If you want to sign on to a similar letter to Yeltsin and Sergeyev, please sign the existing Yeltsin/Clinton sign on, on http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html As above, sign this letter by emailing me at: nonukes@foesyd.org.au A global fax campaign will commence (or re-commence - one already exists) on Sunday November 7. My apologies for the inevitable double-postings. TO: WILLIAM COHEN, US SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, +1-703-695-1149, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, US, +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883. Y2K AND DE-ALERTING OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS Dear President Clinton and Secretary for Defence Cohen, I am writing to urge your administration to take US nuclear forces off 'hairtrigger alert' even if only during the Y2K rollover period. It is particularly disturbing that you are reported as having stated in Moscow that de-alerting of nuclear forces is 'off the table' as a stability building measure. You have also been quoted as saying that 'The better course is reduction, limiting the number of weapons, and establishing shared early warning centers'. These measures are not in competition with each other. All of them - reductions in the number of weapons, the establishment of shared early warning centers and de-alerting - are equally vital to the reduction of tension and the establishment of strategic stability. This is particularly the case in view of the uncertainties posed by the millennium date change (Y2K). As you are well aware, the largest and oldest computer system complexes in the world are those that control nuclear weapons systems. We are well aware that the chief of Stratcom, Admiral Mies has said in congressional testimony in April and July 1999 that the defence department is well advanced in terms of its Y2K-remediation program. The Y2K problem is such that it is just not possible to be as certain as Mies is in his testimony. This is because very nature of this kind of problem prohibits you from being certain that every possible programming glitch is truly fixed. In fact no - one will be completely certain until the real date change itself, and indeed until well into the new year. And even if you are able to convincingly prove that US strategic nuclear computer systems are truly Y2K compliant and that they are 'fail safe', you will be well aware of the great concern that has been voiced over the Y2K readiness of Russia. Russia has, until recently, made little effort to even acknowledge the Y2K problem, let alone fix it. It is therefore quite possible that Russian computerized control systems are not Y2K compliant and that they will experience widespread failures during the Y2K rollover period. Even more disquieting is the fact that that the Russians have constructed the system known as 'Perimeter', or the 'dead hand'. Perimiter seems to offer additional pathways by which Y2K -related command and control failures could lead to an accidental launch of missiles, possibly by Y2K - related failures in sensors combined with system blackout fooling the system into thinking that an attack had taken place. The establishment of a Y2K strategic stability center in Colorado is certainly an advantageous move and an absolutely essential one. However, it does not entirely remove the danger of an accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The fact that the Center is scheduled, as far as the public is aware, to come into operation only on December 27th, four days prior to the rollover, is itself far from reassuring. A four day delay will render it useless. Similarly, the center itself will depend on the availability of ultra-reliable hotlines between it and Moscow. The recently admitted Y2K vulnerabilities discovered, according to Reuters reports of congressional testimony, in six of the seven hotlines established during the cold war period are also cause for deep concern. If nuclear weapons are removed from a status in which they can be launched within minutes, and placed in one which would require at least days to launch, the risk of an accidental missile launch induced by Y2K or other errors in command and control systems will be virtually eliminated. This has been done by the UK, which has moved the 'notice to fire' for its missile forces from minutes to days. De-alerting of nuclear forces was strongly recommended by the Canberra Commission in 1996 as a way to develop strategic stability and build trust between the US and Russia. It has also been incorporated into last year's and this years text of the New Agenda Resolution in the UN General Assembly. In addition it has been the subject of two resolutions passed by the Australian Senate on 12 August and 20September. (Text of these resolutions has been passed on to you by the deputy president of our Senate, Senator Sue West.) Mr. Clinton and Mr. Cohen, we believe that in taking De-alerting 'off the table', the United States is making a serious error. We believe that failure to take nuclear forces off hairtrigger alert over the Y2K 'rollover' period is an error that has the potential of causing unthinkable consequences. The probability of this may be low but it will never be zero as long as nuclear forces remain on hair-trigger alert. In a letter in response to a sign on letter from over 270 (now 460) NGOs, Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov said that: "The questions of removing from the military duty of Russian and American nuclear armaments which you mention in your appeal may become the matter for discussion between the two countries in the context of negotiations on further limitation of the strategic nuclear weapons" This hardly indicates that De-alerting is 'off the table' as far as the Russian Government is concerned. It should be very much on the table as far as your administration is concerned. (Text of the Russian reply with english translation to our letter is enclosed). In a previous administration, President Bush took strategic bomber forces off alert. We urge you to do this with all US nuclear forces. Signed John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Sydney. Ak Malten, Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance, The Hague, Tom Mc Donald, British-American Security Information Council,(BASIC) London, Marion Hancock, Aotearoa Peace Foundation, Auckland, NZ., Alice Slater, Global Resource and Action Centre for the Environment, NY., Ellen Thomas, Proposition-1 Committee, Washington DC., Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri -Valley CAREs, (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment), Livermore, CA, Laurie grossman, Y2K-WASH,(World Atomic Safety Holiday) San Francisco, Carah Ong, Abolition 2000 Coordinator, - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #217 *********************************** - To unsubscribe to $LIST, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe $LIST" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.