The Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC) makes or procures some 80% of the electronic and mechanical parts for US nuclear weapons. The plant provides the triggering system, the guidance system, and operating parts for nukes. These are weapons of mass destruction, and could lead to global extinction. The Nuremberg trials established that “just following orders” is never an excuse. We are hoping to warn employees in KCNSC that they would be complicit in crimes against humanity if they continue to work there.
PeaceWorks is protesting the new generation of nuclear weapons Monday, May 19, at the KCNSC, 14510 Botts Road, facing MO Highway 150. We will do civil resistance. All are invited to join us. The gravity of the situation requires public witness. Sign up at: https://peaceworkskc.org/sign-up-resist-nukes-5-18-19/.
The International Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) says the B61-13 bomb, being made now, will be up to 24 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. While essential aid is denied to USAID, and to US health and education programs, we take responsibility for the dangers nuclear weapons pose to our planet. ICAN calls the B61-13 bombs “massively destructive bombs that cannot be used without indiscriminately killing civilians and destroying critical infrastructure – which is against international humanitarian law and would almost certainly be a war crime.”
The KCNSC projects in the Department of Energy’s budget laboratory tables include parts for: the Enterprise Pit Production-Plutonium Modernization and Plutonium Disposition program; the B61-12, a gravity bomb the US shares with five European air force bases–it has a Boeing tail kit that makes it a maneuverable “smart” bomb; the W88 ALT 370 warhead, used in the Navy’s Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles; the W80-4 warhead, the Air Force’s long-range standoff weapon; the W87-1 modification program that replaces the W78 warhead; and the W93/MK7 program, used in submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
In January, the NNSA announced that the B61-12 had been “fully forward deployed,” presumably at the European NATO bases and US nuclear-capable bases such as Whiteman AFB near Knob Noster, MO. So the B61-12 bomb that was supposed to replace all the US gravity nuclear bombs and supposed to last for 20 years was not yet off the assembly line in 2023 when it was announced that it would be replaced by the B61-13 nuclear bomb. The flight-to-impact time of the B61-12 gravity bomb, which is delivered by the F-16, F18, and F35 airplanes, makes it the ultimate pre-emptive-strike nuclear weapon in the US arsenal. The Russians know this, which incentivizes them to “use or lose” their nuclear forces, creating the ultimate global instability.
The production of the B61-13 was not scheduled to be finished for more than a year, but due to the current global instability, it was announced that production is being sped up to have 50 of them ready to be used before the end of this year! See US accelerates production of new B61-13 nuclear warhead | NewsNation U.S. Completes Upgrade of B61-12 Nuclear Weapons and Prepares Production of B61-13 Warheads – The Aviationist Brian Terrell, a founder of the Strangers and Guests Catholic Worker in Maloy, IA, says, “The logic of speeding up production is to give the president (Trump) more options dealing with the present global challenges. Like the other nukes, just about everything” mechanical or electronic about the B61-13 “is going to be made at the KC plant.”
Detailing recent achievements of the NNSA, the National Nuclear Security Administration, (then) NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby said Jan. 16, “My proudest accomplishment is getting our mojo back in NNSA.” See https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/nnsa-administrator-jill-hruby-remarks-hudson-institute.
Commenting on Jill Hruby’s remarks, Mike Miles of the Anathoth Catholic Worker near Luck, WI, said May 7, “What the workers at NNSA do every day—including those at the KCNSC—leads to illegal activity.”
In conjunction with the resistance to nuclear weapon production, on May 18, a 1-2:30pm session on “Back from the Brink” of nuclear annihilation will be held at Waldo Public Library, Conference Room A, 201 E. 75th St., KC MO. Again, all are invited!
On May 19, holding signs like those accompanying this post, PeaceWorks will stand up for peace, not nukes, and for solving crises such as violence in KC and climate change rather than making nuclear bombs.
