Dear ACA Members and Supporters:
I am writing to ask for your urgent help and financial support to us protect one of the most important and hard-won guardrails against nuclear dangers: the global moratorium on nuclear testing.
Since the beginning of the nuclear age, millions of people around the globe have stood up and fought to bring about a complete end to nuclear testing, which once spewed radioactive fallout the world over and fueled dangerous nuclear arms competition.
ACA has been at the forefront of the long-running effort to stop nuclear testing and advance the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
The journey has been long and difficult, from the citizen-led campaign that prompted Kennedy and Khrushchev to sign the 1963 ban on atmospheric blasts, to the uprising of ordinary people in Kazakhstan to end Russian testing in 1990, to the campaign to push Congress to halt testing in 1992, extend the moratorium in 1993, and secure the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996.
As a result of our collective efforts, the test ban treaty has been signed by 187 states; it is backed by a highly sensitive International Monitoring System to detect and deter testing, and nuclear testing is now considered “taboo.”
But last Wednesday night, Donald Trump issued a garbled social media post announcing he wants to resume U.S. nuclear testing after a 33-year hiatus because he believes that “all the others" are doing it. (They are not.)
Since then, our small but dedicated team has been working nearly around the clock to explain why this would be unnecessary and dangerous, and we’ve been strategizing with allies and partners planning how we can and will prevent a resumption of nuclear testing.
And with your help, we can and must block Trump's nuclear testing madness.
We flew into action within minutes of Trump’s initial post, explaining on social media, in our widely cited media advisory, and in media outlets, the danger of resuming nuclear testing.
As I told MSNBC on Thursday:
“Trump appears to be misinformed and out of touch. The U.S. has no technical, military, or political reason to resume nuclear explosive testing.
"By announcing his intention to resume nuclear testing, Trump will trigger strong international opposition that could unleash a chain reaction of nuclear testing by U.S. adversaries, and blow apart the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.”
October 31, UN member states voted on a resolution in support of the test ban treaty and the global nuclear test moratorium. The United States was the only “no” vote.
