Page 12 - the Noise August 2016

readers who wrote in last edition presented challenges to the decision- making and actions of elected officials, on a local and federal level. We subsequently sent requests for response from each named political leader — arizona secretary of state Michele reagan, arizona Governor Doug Ducey, and President barack obama.
as of press time for the august edition, we only received one response, from Mr. obama. Whether this letter represents a framed riposte from a high-achieving intern or one of Mr. obama’s late night epiphanies we’ll let the reader determine:
Dear Editor:
Thank you for writing. I have heard from many Americans on issues related to nuclear non-proliferation, arms control, and energy.
Nuclear weapons and their proliferation pose some of the gravest threats to Amer- ica and the world — from states like North Korea defying international obligations surrounding its nuclear program to the potential of terrorists obtaining these weap- ons. Since the end of the Cold War, the threat of a global nuclear war has decreased, but the risk of nuclear attack has increased. As we seek to end this threat, we must not block the use of nuclear energy as one option to help the world confront the effects of climate change. My Administration will continue to partner with the inter- national community to limit the danger of nuclear weapons while encouraging the peaceful use of nuclear energy under the highest standards of safety and security.
As Commander in Chief, I am committed to stopping nuclear proliferation and seeking a world free of nuclear weapons. My Administration will keep improving America’s export control system and promoting the development and implementa- tion of export controls throughout the world, ensuring there are appropriate and effective measures against the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and their delivery systems. We will also keep working collaboratively with our international partners in the Proliferation Security Initiative, breaking up black markets, detecting and intercepting WMD materials in transit, and using financial tools to disrupt this dangerous trade.
At the same time, we are leading efforts to reduce nuclear arsenals, building sup- port in the United States to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and moving forward in efforts to negotiate a verifiable Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. My Administration signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START Treaty) with Russia to reduce our warheads and delivery systems, consistent with our commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Our goal is to acceler- ate dismantlement of retired United States nuclear warheads by 20 percent. Finally, I will host the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in an effort to strengthen the global nuclear security architecture and increase nuclear security cooperation on a variety of important issues.
To learn more, visit www.Whitehouse.gov/issues/foreign-Policy. Thank you
again for writing on this important issue.
in a quick email exchange, we sent this rejoinder:
With all due respect, we believe the question our reader was positing can be summed as: why would you commit $1 trillion (in your current budget) to main- taining the nation’s nuclear arsenal when your previous arguments about dis- mantling that same destructive force (in college papers and stump speeches in 2008) became a determining reason for your election in the first place? secondly, i believe our reader was asking: why not commit those same dollars to peaceful projects the nation desperately needs, like solar-electric transportation and clean water systems? thirdly, do you not, as elected Commander in Chief of the nation’s armed forces, have the resolute authority to rid the world of the nuclear threat this country unleashed on the civilian populations of Japan 71 years ago?
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
We have yet to receive another reply.
illus by martha clark