News on No First Use in USA and NATO

Posted: 13th December 2021

News on NFU in USA and NATO

  Senator Markey’s US Senate speech
UK public opinion poll
Scientists letter to Italian parliament
Financial Times & Gro Harlem Brundtland’s Response

In our last update (November 29) we reported on the joint letter supporting no-first-use (NFU) sent to President Biden and the U.S. Congress by 34 leading parliamentarians from NATO countries. The parliamentary letter contradicts reports – such as the one published by Financial Times on October 29 – that United States allies want the US government to retain the option of initiating nuclear war (first-use options).

Senator Markey, a supporter of NoFirstUse Global and Co-Chair of the US Congress Working Group on Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control, followed up receipt of the parliamentary letter by making strong comments in the US Senate supporting NFU.

Other actions supporting NFU from NATO countries include a public opinion poll in the UK, a letter to the Italian parliament from the Italian Union of Scientists for Disarmament, and an article in the Financial Times Joe Biden must show leadership on nuclear weapons by Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and a member of The Elders.

Senator Markey promotes no-first-use in senate speech

On Tuesday November 30, Senator Edward Markey, Co-President of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND), took the floor in the US Senate to criticize the $768 billion US military budget put forward in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and to promote his amendment to the act which would shift 1% of the military budget to initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and to assist developing countries adapt and become more resilient to the climate crisis.

Senator Markey also used the opportunity to express strong opposition to current US nuclear policy which maintains a first-use option.

“The United States should never be first to launch a nuclear weapon against another country—ever. That should just be our policy. We will not be the first to use nuclear weapons when we have not been attacked with nuclear weapons. That is immoral. That is wrong. It must be the policy of our country that we will not do that.”

Senator Markey is a co-sponsor of the No-First-Use Bill (US Senate 1219) and the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Bill (US Senate 1148). 

UK public support no-first-use

UK Trident nuclear armed submarine 2/3rds of the UK public (65%-70%) support NATO adopting a no-first-use policy, according to a survey commissioned by the British branch of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists on November 18. See The British public wants NATO to renounce the first use of nuclear weapons.

“The British government appears to be unaware of this public opposition or unready to be influenced by it,” says Peter Jenkins, Chair of British Pugwash and former UK Ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna. “The Financial Times reported on October 30 that Britain was among the US allies in Europe and the Far East/Pacific who have been lobbying Joe Biden to not change American coverage on the usage of nuclear weapons.” 

“UK officials tend to believe that the threat of first use will cause potential aggressors to think twice before starting a non-nuclear conflict by sowing doubt about their ability to control escalation.. This seems questionable… A sufficiency of non-nuclear defensive capabilities would provide a more credible deterrent.” 

Italian Scientists group presents NFU letter to parliament 

On December 1, Ambassador (ret) Carlo Trezza, Member of the Union of Scientists for Disarmament Italy (USPID), spoke to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Parliament to present and appeal by USPID to the parliament to discuss the issue of no-first-use of nuclear weapons with an objective to advance this policy to nuclear armed states and to NATO.

“While waiting for the conditions to mature so that all states can adhere to a total ban on nuclear weapons, the international community cannot sit idly by. It must try every possible path to achieve the realization of a world free of nuclear weapons,” say the letter endorsers. “This initiative would not start from scratch since two nuclear states, China and India have already individually committed not to use nuclear weapons first. Even the Soviet Union, at the time of the Cold War, had embraced this concept.”

In addition the letter notes that “The ground has recently become more fertile as the Biden administration and the US Congress are examining the possibility of approaching this concept in the context of the ongoing Nuclear Posture Review process.” and that “Civil society is also being mobilized in favor of the adoption of the NFU concept.”
 Read the Italian Scientists letter (English translation)

Former Norway Prime Minister calls for nuclear ‘sole purpose’ policy

“President Joe Biden has a historic opportunity to demonstrate leadership by using the current US Nuclear Posture Review to implement his campaign commitment that the “sole purpose” of the US nuclear arsenal should be deterring — and if necessary, retaliating against — a nuclear attack,” says Gro Harlem Brundtland in an op ed piece Joe Biden must show leadership on nuclear weapons which the former Prime Minister of Norway published in Financial Times on December 9, 2021.

“I will always remain a strong supporter of Nato,” says Ms Brundtland, who currently serves as a member ot The Elders. “Having lived through the Nazi occupation of Norway as a young child during the second world war, I understand that the preservation of national independence and democratic freedoms demands robust defence forces, international co-operation and constant vigilance.”

“However, it strains credulity that the US would launch a nuclear attack in response to a conventional attack by a nuclear power on an ally, as this would inevitably provoke a nuclear response and result in national and global calamity on an almost incomprehensible scale… Biden should therefore not be deterred by the sabre-rattling rhetoric from domestic opponents, and instead focus on the transformative potential of a sole purpose policy on the world stage.”

Reminder: Open Letter to the 10th NPT Review Conference is still open for endorsement

A friendly reminder that Fulfil the NPT: From nuclear threats to human security, an Open Letter to the States Parties of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, remains open for endorsement. Nearly 300 people have endorsed so far, including parliamentarians, former government officials, academics, religious leaders, fromer military leaders, youth and other civil society representatives.

In our upcoming newsletter we will report on the Open Letter, its presentation to the States Parties to the NPT and the side event on no-first-use which we are planning to hold during the NPT Review Conference. Stay tuned.
 Endorse the Open Letter: Fulfil the NPTNoFirstUse Global is a network of organizations, academics, policy makers and civil society advocates working cooperatively for the adoption of no-first-use policies by nuclear-armed States, the support for such policies from nuclear allied countries, and the implementation of such policies to help achieve broader nuclear risk-reduction, non-proliferation and disarmament measures.