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Motion of the Council of Allegheny County embracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and urging the President, administration, and Congress to engage in fiscally responsible defense modernization programs that are geared towards current needs, rather than the outdated and unacceptably risky doctrine of mutually assured nuclear destruction.
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Whereas, since the height of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have dismantled more than 50,000 nuclear warheads, but 14,500 of these weapons still exist and pose an intolerable risk to human survival; and
Whereas, 95 percent of these weapons are in the hands of the United States and Russia and the rest are held by seven other countries: China, France, Israel, India, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom; and
Whereas, As of June of 2021, the current nuclear arsenal of the United States includes approximately 3,800 total nuclear warheads in its military stockpile, of which approximately 1,800 are deployed with five delivery components: land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, long-range strategic bomber aircraft armed with nuclear gravity bombs, long-range strategic bomber aircraft armed with nuclear-armed air-launched cruise missiles, and short-range fighter aircraft that can deliver nuclear gravity bombs. The strategic bomber fleet of the United States comprises 87 B-52 and 20 B-2 aircraft, over 60 of which contribute to the nuclear mission. The United States also maintains 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles and 14 Ohio-class submarines - each armed with approximately 90 nuclear warheads - and up to 12 of which are on patrol at any given time; and
Whereas, the use of even a tiny fraction of these weapons could cause worldwide climate disruption and global famine-for example, as few as 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs, small by modern standards, if used to attack urban industrial targets would put at least 5,00...
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