by Emma Claire for Defuse Nuclear War
In Southern California at 11:45pm on Election Day, Nov. 5, activists will gather near Vandenberg Space Force Base to witness and protest the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). During such tests, which occur several times a year, the weapons are launched from the Vandenberg base and aimed at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Scheduling this latest test on Election Day is a clear attempt by the Air and Space Forces to avoid public scrutiny of these tests, even as the continued deployment of ICBMs is a profound threat to the life and security of every single person in the United States and around the world.
ICBMs are an imminent danger to humanity. Armed with nuclear warheads, ICBMs are on hair-trigger alert and, once launched, cannot be recalled, virtually guaranteeing a retaliation strike on the country that launches them. As long as ICBMs exist, we live with the constant risk that misinterpreted intelligence, human error, or a single rash decision could end civilization as we know it within an hour.
The U.S. has committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars to “modernize” its ICBM force, which in practice means replacing the entire system, an effort that is now 81% over budget and years behind schedule. Yet the U.S. Secretary of Defense has certified, through a “comprehensive, unbiased review,” not shared with the public, that the program will proceed.
Test launches damage human communities and ecosystems. The Marshall Islands, already forced to bear the overwhelming environmental costs of U.S. nuclear weapons testing, are still used as a target test area.
When tensions among nuclear-armed states are high, each test launch carries an added risk. The U.S. military has acknowledged as much by pausing these launches at high points of tension in the war in Ukraine. The risk of nuclear escalation remains too high to introduce the possibility of misinterpretation of a test into the mix.
This Tuesday evening, activists from the Defuse Nuclear War campaign will gather near Vandenberg Space Force Base to protest the test launch. To learn more about how to support them, email info@defusenuclearwar.org.
To send a message to your senators and representative about ICBMs, click here.
If you value this work, I hope you’ll make a contribution to RootsAction, which is coordinating the Defuse Nuclear War campaign.