Fellowship of Reconciliation
Hiroshima Day Program
Citizens Weapon Inspection Team of New England
I. Action Description:
The Citizens Weapons Inspection Team is an ad-hoc delegation of people concerned about nuclear disarmament who intend to "investigate" the status of nuclear weapons-capable submarine building programs at the Electric Boat (EB) facility in Groton, Connecticut. This group, organized by the Disarmament Program of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), located in Nyack, New York, intends to build on the experiences of previous citizens weapons inspection teams that have executed actions on March 1, 1998 at nuclear facilities in Bath, Maine (Bath Iron Works), Bangor, Washington (US Naval Submarine Base), and Tucson, Arizona (Davis Monthan Air Force Base).
The inspection is scheduled for Hiroshima Day, Thursday, August 6, to recall the over 192,000 victims of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. It will involve transporting the delegation, who may risk arrest for disorderly conduct, as well as supporting demonstrators who will not risk arrest, to the Electric Boat facility in Groton, Connecticut. The demonstrators will hold a press conference outside the main gates of the facilities, and then a support rally while the delegation attempts to enter the facility to carry out the inspection.
FOR is looking for everyone who is committed to nuclear disarmament and ending the eight-year war on Iraq to participate at the highest level that they feel able! Please contact Vincent Romano with questions or for more details at (914) 358-4601, fellowship@igc.org.
The United States has an obligation under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to achieve nuclear disarmament, and is prohibited under international humanitarian law from using or threatening to use weapons which are indiscriminate, violate neutral states or cause long-term damage to the environment. The International Court of Justice reaffirmed this law on July 8, 1996, and concluded that the threat or use of nuclear weapons was generally illegal.
The aim of the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team is to determine whether or not the US is abiding by its obligations to achieve nuclear disarmament and to refrain from the threat or use of nuclear weapons. If the inspection yields evidence of the construction of submarines at the facility that are intended to be capable of firing nuclear weapons, the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team intends to warn the government that construction of new nuclear-capable submarines at Electric Boat and the use of nuclear weapons aboard these vessels is prohibited by international law. Additionally, members of the delegation will use their statement and action as a platform from which to call upon the American people to demand that the US government cease to rely upon nuclear weapons as a cornerstone of the nation's defense for the indefinite future, and endorse the principle of the Abolition 2000 campaign: namely, to have a signed treaty by the end of the year 2000 that will begin the total elimination of nuclear weapons by a specific date.
The FOR is particularly concerned about exposing the hypocrisy of the US' intentions to maintain stockpiles of nuclear weapons of mass destruction for the indefinite future, while demanding at the same time for Iraq to eliminate all of its biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction. Electric Boat and the US Navy may say that there are no nuclear weapons present at EB in Groton, but without allowing for an inspection team there is no way of knowing the truth. This is the approach being taken by the UN weapons inspection teams in Iraq, and we can use the same tack at EB, especially because it is clear that the capability for producing the delivery systems for nuclear weapons is quite intact at this facility.
This Hiroshima Day is a highly significant occasion not only to renew our call for a nuclear weapons-free world, but also as the anniversary of the sanctions in Iraq. On August 6, 1990, the UN imposed the regime of economic sanctions upon Iraq in a swift response to its invasion of Kuwait. Now, eight years and an estimated one and one-half million Iraqi civilians killed later, the US (using the UN as its proxy) continues to force unilateral disarmament upon Iraq-a country which it had armed and supported just a few years before. The US is using the weapons inspection system as a lever for maintaining the sanctions, whereas this was not a condition of the original Security Council resolution 661 that imposed the sanctions. Therefore, our weapons inspection will demand justice both at home and abroad. We also desire to call public attention to the US nuclear forces in the Persian Gulf being employed to threaten Iraq during the UN weapons inspections.
The Electric Boat facility in Groton, CT certainly is one of the most heavily-protested sites related to US nuclear forces on the East Coast, having been the location of countless vigils and plowshares. The last action that has occurred there was at the launching of the USS Connecticut Seawolf submarine on Labor Day in September, 1997. Local media and residents are quite familiar with the purpose of the facility already, due to the protests and its importance to the local economy. The distinguishing approach of this particular action is the novelty of the "citizens weapons inspection" technique, especially in light of the forced disarmament currently being imposed on Iraq under the UN weapons inspection regime. It will be crucial to our outreach strategy to note the hypocrisy of our own nation reserving to itself the right to harbor weapons of mass destruction, and stress the necessity for subjecting the US to a similar process of inspections through an independent monitoring system, as well as converting the facility to non-military purposes.
Citizens participating in the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team do so out of a duty to act when possible to oppose government actions which violate international law. Such a duty was reinforced in the Nuremberg Trials and by the International Court of Justice nuclear weapons case (1996).
Once the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team is assembled, we will request a tour of the facility and access to documentation that confirms whether or not any type of nuclear weapons-capable submarines are present at the facilities. Anticipating a rejection, we will then serve the legal basis under customary international law for our request upon Electric Boat personnel, and maintain our right to conduct such an inspection. Other preparations will proceed as detailed herein.
On August 6, we will travel to the facility, hold a press conference and demonstration in the morning, and attempt to enter Electric Boat at noon. We will adhere to standard nonviolent discipline at all times during the inspection. We will question all relevant personnel and attempt to procure documentation and take photographs of any evidence that can confirm the construction of submarines capable of firing nuclear weapons at the site.
Support will follow the delegation to the local jail at which the inspection team members may be detained, and will help in all succeeding arrangements regarding court procedures. Demonstrators will be encouraged to maintain their presence outside the plant and/or vigil outside any incarceration facility to which the inspection team members are taken.
IV. Information on Weapons Systems at the Site:
Preliminary research has been done using the World Wide Web, mainly from Electric Boat's site (http://www.gdeb.com) and the US Navy site (http://www.navy.mil), as well as with local contacts. Findings indicate that the Electric Boat facility at Groton, Connecticut is under contract with the US Navy and owned by the General Dynamics Corporation primarily to assemble Ohio-class Trident nuclear submarines, Seawolf-class, Sturgeon-class, and other classes of attack submarines. While the entire nuclear-armed Trident submarine forces of the US Navy has been manufactured at Electric Boat's Groton, CT facility (eighteen submarines, about one each year since 1979), they are being home ported at the Naval Submarine Bases in Bangor, Washington, and Kings Bay, Georgia. The Tridents are outfitted with their nuclear missiles only after they are taken to their home ports at either Bangor or Kings Bay.
Presently, there are many attack submarines under construction at Electric Boat. However, the last nuclear submarine in the Trident program, the USS Louisiana, was commissioned in July 1997, and taken to its home port in Kings Bay. Therefore, our inspection is very unlikely to yield any evidence of present construction of Trident submarines. However, Electric Boat is at this time negotiating with the US Navy for the contracts to retrofit the second four of the first eight Trident submarines, the USS Henry M. Jackson, the USS Alabama, the USS Alaska, and the USS Nevada, with the more advanced Trident D-5 missile system in place on the last ten Ohio-class submarines constructed, including the USS Louisiana. (These submarines, commissioned between 1984-1986, have the original and somewhat inferior Trident I C-4 system.) It stands to reason that Electric Boat will win these contracts within the next twelve months, as it has constructed all of the Trident subs to date, and work at the facility could use the boost from the military industrial complex. If EB does succeed in gaining these contracts, these four submarines would be decommissioned of their nuclear payload at their home port during the retrofitting project.
What is key for our inspection will be to make clear that these Trident submarines have been and continue to be constructed with the intention of being a part of "the sea-based 'leg' of the triad of US strategic offensive forces" for the indefinite future. Inspectors will need to focus on obtaining relevant documents attesting to Electric Boat's history of Trident construction, but especially of its intentions to land these new contracts. The demonstration can advocate for a complete dismantling, rather than the planned upgrading, of these four submarines in particular, along with the rest of the Trident fleet. Sensitivity and listening to local concerns about jobs at EB related to the pending contracts will need to be an important element of the demonstration.
The capabilities of the fleet ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) are fearsome indeed. (See the attached sheet for background, features, and characteristics of these ships.) The point of interest for the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team is that each of the Ohio-class nuclear submarines in the Trident D-5 program constructed at Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, carry twenty-four nuclear missiles, each armed with five warheads that have twenty-five times the destructive power of the Hiroshima A-bomb: that is, up to 5,500 Hiroshima explosions contained on one submarine. US Navy literature states that "by the turn of the century, the eighteen Trident SSBNs will carry fifty percent of the total US strategic warheads.... The SSBN provides the nation's most survivable and enduring nuclear strike capability." The illegality under international law of this nuclear posture is what the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team must confront.
V. Communications with Electric Boat:
Communications will take place through the FOR after the inspections team is assembled. The contact information for the facilities is: Electric Boat Corporation, 75 Eastern Point Road, Groton, CT 06340-4989; phone (860) 433-3000, fax (860) 433-1400.
Electric Boat Corp. states in its public literature that public tours of their facilities are not allowed: "as a defense plant, access is limited to those with a need to know." Additionally, Electric Boat refuses to share photographs and information about its submarines beyond the general data it releases to the public, such as the details noted above. Therefore, it is anticipated that the security needs of the military will lead to a rejection of our request for an inspection. Of course, we will make our case that we, as citizens of the United States, do need to make this information public!
Electric Boat Corp. offers directions to and a basic map of its facilities at Groton, Connecticut. It is located off exit 87 on I-95, about three hours from New York City, 75 minutes from Hartford, and two hours from Boston. Organizers for the inspection will help to arrange carpools to get supporters to EB on August 6.
The first meeting time for the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team of New England will occur after the team has been assembled, no later than the beginning of June. Steven Kobesa, a citizen of New Haven, CT with a long history of involvement with protest against Electric Boat, has offered to host team members on a tour of the facility and set up a meeting for team members near the site in Groton. Conference calls will be arranged through the FOR to facilitate communication between members who are far apart in distance from each other; however, it is expected that the entire team will meet as a group at least once before August 6, at a place to be determined for the mutual convenience of all participants.
VIII. Support Demonstrators/Security:
It will be a responsibility of the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team organizers to draw upon the grassroots membership of their organizations to travel to Groton, as well as identify local allies, to join the team on August 6 at Electric Boat in a support demonstration. Specific individuals will be identified as security to help maintain nonviolent discipline at the demonstration, and should take part in nonviolence training in advance of August 6, including: assessing each participant's understanding of the inspection; doing role plays to prepare for possible outcomes of the demonstration; practicing one-on-one interviews with the media, etc. (FOR has nonviolence training resources available for all organizers: contact Paige Wilder at (914) 358-4601.) Supporters will need to do their own publicity and develop signs, street theater, etc. to make the event memorable for the media and any other onlookers.
Participants on the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team will need to combine their efforts to make the action successful, at least in communicating our message to the media and our local communities. Responsibilities for executing various tasks, such as research, press releases, leaflet design, sign and banner creation, phone work, and other necessary work shall be divided at the team meetings.
Additional work done to prepare for the arrival of the inspection team in August could involve approaching the local police department when we apply for the permit to conduct the demonstration, and asking that they, as officers of the law, accompany the inspection team into Electric Boat to ensure that international law will be upheld! Also, a compassionate listening project, similar to the one conducted four years ago by the War Resisters League of New England, could have some supporters set up meetings with local residents to inform them of the nature of the upcoming action and its intentions, and then listen to their concerns in a non-adversarial manner. Announcing the action in these and others ways before August 6 can only help the demonstration to achieve its objectives, in the truest approach of Gandhian nonviolence.
Participation in the Citizens Weapons Inspection Team of New England is open to persons who:
a) are residing in New York State and the New England States,
b) have some background in and commitment to disarmament of nuclear weapons,
c) are willing to face arrest for disorderly conduct, or any other charge imposed by the authorities, and face any possible consequences of this action,
d) can use the experience to advance the work of the disarmament community, regionally and/or nationally.The FOR is looking for a delegation of at least six and no more than twelve individuals who would be willing to inspect the Groton, Connecticut facilities, plus at least one support person to help deal with the possible arrests that may result, as well as an unlimited number of demonstrators to make a public presence outside the gates of the facilities on August 6. Participants shall be sought primarily from the Atlantic Life Community, War Resisters League and Fellowship of Reconciliation local chapters in New York and New England, and the American Friends Service Committee and the Abolition 2000 network of New England. We will also make every attempt to include as members of the team persons who have technical or legal expertise in the field, international inspectors (e.g., from Canada), and local individuals with political (e.g., a state representative) or religious (e.g., the local Catholic Bishop) notoriety.
It should be stated that the policy of the citizens weapons inspection team with regards to possible prison time and fines assessed will have to be determined by the team as a group. Previous demonstrators (including Plowshares) at EB have achieved some rapport with the local police, so it is not expected that anything more than a small sentence of one or two days would be meted out-our sense is that the jails would not be willing to hold us for long for such a clearly nonviolent and dignified action. However, participants should be prepared for any eventuality, and it is hoped that the team as a group would decide to refuse to pay any fines and accept whatever prison time that may be given, as a consequence of making this necessary nonviolent witness against the horror of nuclear weapons.
DELEGATION MEMBERS
Name/Organization/Address/City/State/Zip/Profession/Phone/Fax/E-mail
1) Vincent J. Romano, FOR, 521 N Broadway, Nyack NY10960. Disarmament Intern. (914) 358-4603. (914) 358-4924. fellowship@igc.org
2) Clayton Ramey, FOR, 521 N Broadway, Nyack NY 10960. Disarmament Coordinator. (914) 358-4601. (914) 358-4924. crramey@igc.orgThe Citizens Weapons Inspection Team of New England, in anticipation of the possibility of arrests for disorderly conduct as a likely outcome of its Hiroshima Day action, desire to have several individuals assist the project as support persons. In the eventuality of arrests, these persons would help make any court arrangements as required by the participants of the team, serve as an outside contact for all members of the team for the duration they might stay in jail, and contribute to the general effort to publicize the action to the media and organize support from the disarmament community.
Each member of the inspection team should have a support person available who will be responsible for: holding on to car keys during time spent in jail, following the arrest vehicle to jail and maintaining a presence outside the jail while the inspector is being processed, making phone calls to their place of employment the next day, publicizing the arrest in the media, giving out the inspector's address for any long-term stay in jail, etc.
Name ___________ Organization___________
Address______________________
City___________ State___________ Zip___________
Profession___________
Phone___________ Fax___________ E-mail ___________
[Statement on the Illegality of Nuclear Weapons]
[Fellowship of Reconciliation Homepage]
The Fellowship of Reconciliation
P.O. Box 271, Nyack, NY 10960. (914) 358-4601. Fax: (914) 358-4924. Email: fornatl@igc.apc.org
