RESOLUTION — File 206690

WHEREAS: Nine nations collectively have approximately 15,000 nuclear weapons in their arsenals, most of which are far more destructive than those that killed hundreds of thousands of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945; and WHEREAS: The detonation of even a small number of these weapons would have catastrophic human and environmental consequences that could affect everyone on the planet; and WHEREAS: The United States maintains several hundred nuclear missiles in underground silos on hair-trigger alert, capable of being launched within minutes after a presidential order, which greatly increases the risk of an accidental, mistaken or unauthorized launch; and WHEREAS: The United States continues to reserve the right by formal, stated policy to use nuclear weapons first, which reduces the threshold for nuclear use and makes a nuclear war more likely; and WHEREAS: The U.S. President has the sole and unchecked authority to order the use of nuclear weapons; and WHEREAS: Over the next 30 years, the United States plans to spend an estimated $1.7 trillion to replace its entire nuclear arsenal and the bombers, missiles and submarines that deliver them with more capable, more usable versions; and WHEREAS: Taxpayers spend over $2 million every hour of every day to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal; and WHEREAS: The United States, as well as Britain, China, France and Russia, are obligated under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to take concrete steps toward eliminating their nuclear arsenals; and WHEREAS: In July 2017, 122 nations approved the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which makes it illegal under international law to develop, test, produce, manufacture, or otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the Somerville Board of Aldermen calls on the United States to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by: • renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first; • ending the sole, unchecked authority of any U.S. President to launch a nuclear attack; • taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert;

• cancelling the plan to replace its entire arsenal with enhanced weapons; and • actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That this resolution be communicated to Somerville’s U.S. representative and senators in Congress.