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(http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/070600missile-nobel.html)
A group of 50 Nobel laureates has signed an open letter to President
Clinton urging him to reject a proposed $60 billion missile defense
system. The group said the plan would be wasteful and dangerous.
"The system would offer little protection and would do grave harm to
this nation's core security interests," the laureates wrote before the
system's ground-based interceptor is tested on Friday.
All the signers are American citizens or have worked much of their lives
in the United States.
The letter, to be sent today to the White House, was organized by the
Federation of American Scientists, a group in Washington that opposes
the missile plan.
Although laureates occasionally band together in informal groups to
address issues, it is unusual for so many to do so. Federation officials
said the assembly might be the largest ever.
Hans A. Bethe, a Nobel winner in physics who was a main architect of the
atom bomb, helped write the letter and was the first to sign. The others
include 21 who won in physics, 11 in chemistry, 14 in biology or
medicine and 4 in economics, representing about half of all living
American science Nobel winners.
The one-page letter said scientists independent of the Pentagon have
long argued that foes could outwit or overwhelm any such attempt at
defense. The letter also noted that North Korea, whose missile program
is a main reason that the Pentagon wants to build its system, had
recently taken steps toward reconciliation with South Korea. "Other
dangerous states will arise," the letter said. "But what would such a
state gain by attacking the United States except its own destruction?"
The letter also said building such a system could prove dangerous,
saying Russia or China might think that a more expansive missile defense
was imminent and respond by building more nuclear weapons and readying
missiles for "launch on warning."
A spokesman for the Pentagon said the group, although prestigious, had
no access to secret information about the proposed system's feasibility
or to intelligence on global missile threats.
(http://www.fas.org/press/000706-letter.htm)
July 6, 2000
President William Jefferson Clinton
Dear Mr. President:
We urge you not to make the decision to deploy an anti-ballistic missile system during the remaining months of your administration. The system would offer little protection and would do grave harm to this nation's core security interests.
We and other independent scientists have long argued that anti-ballistic missile systems, particularly those attempting to intercept reentry vehicles in space, will inevitably lose in an arms race of improvements to offensive missiles.
North Korea has taken dramatic steps toward reconciliation with South Korea. Other dangerous states will arise. But what would such a state gain by attacking the United States except its own destruction?
While the benefits of the proposed anti-ballistic missile system are dubious, the dangers created by a decision to deploy are clear. It would be difficult to persuade Russia or China that the United States is wasting tens of billions of dollars on an ineffective missile system against small states that are unlikely to launch a missile attack on the U.S. The Russians and Chinese must therefore conclude that the presently planned system is a stage in developing a bigger system directed against them. They may respond by restarting an arms race in ballistic missiles and having missiles in a dangerous "launch-on-warning" mode.
Even if the next planned test of the proposed anti-ballistic missile system works as planned, any movement toward deployment would be premature, wasteful and dangerous.
Respectfully,
Sidney Altman
Philip W. Anderson
Kenneth J. Arrow
Julius Axelrod
Baruj Benacerraf
Hans A. Bethe
J. Michael Bishop
Nicolaas Bloembergen
Paul D. Boyer
Steven Chu
Stanley Cohen
Leon N. Cooper
E. J. Corey
James W. Cronin
Renato Dulbecco
Edmond H. Fischer
Val L. Fitch
Robert F. Furchgott
Murray Gell-Mann
Ivar Giaever
Walter Gilbert
Sheldon L. Glashow
Roger C. L. Guillemin
Herbert A. Hauptman
Dudley R. Herschbach
Roald Hoffmann
David H. Hubel
Jerome Karle
Arthur Kornberg
Edwin G. Krebs
Leon M. Lederman
Edward B. Lewis
Rudolph A. Marcus
Franco Modigliani
Mario Molina
Marshall Nirenberg
Douglas D. Osheroff
Arno A. Penzias
Martin L. Perl
Norman F. Ramsey
Burton Richter
Richard J. Roberts
Herbert A. Simon
Richard E. Smalley
Jack Steinberger
ames Tobin
Daniel C. Tsui
Steven Weinberg
Robert W. Wilson
Chen Ning Yang
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20502
YALE UNIVERSITY
1989 Nobel Prize in chemistry
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
1977 Nobel Prize in physics
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
1972 Nobel Prize in economics
NIH
1970 Nobel Prize in medicine
DANA FARBER CANCER INST.
1980 Nobel Prize in medicine
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
1967 Nobel Prize in physics
UNIVERSITY OF CALIF., SAN FRANCISCO
1989 Nobel Prize in medicine
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1981 Nobel Prize in physics
UCLA
1997 Nobel Prize in chemistry
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
1997 Nobel Prize in physics
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
1986 Nobel Prize in medicine
BROWN UNIVERSITY
1972 Nobel Prize in physics
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1990 Nobel Prize in chemistry
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
1980 Nobel Prize in physics
THE SALK INSTITUTE
1975 Nobel Prize in medicine
UNIV. OF WASHINGTON
1992 Nobel Prize in medicine
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
1980 Nobel Prize in physics
SUNY HEALTH SCIENCE CTR.
1998 Nobel Prize in medicine
SANTA FE INSTITUTE
1969 Nobel Prize in physics
RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
1973 Nobel Prize in physics
BIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES, CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
1979 Nobel Prize in physics
THE SALK INSTITUTE
1977 Nobel Prize in medicine
THE MEDICAL FOUNDATION OF BUFFALO
1985 Nobel Prize in chemistry
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1986 Nobel Prize in chemistry
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
1981 Nobel Prize in chemistry
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1981 Nobel Prize in medicine
NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY
1985 Nobel Prize in chemistry
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
1959 Nobel Prize in medicine
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
1992 Nobel Prize in medicine
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
1988 Nobel Prize in physics
CALTECH
1995 Nobel Prize in medicine
CALTECH
1992 Nobel Prize in chemistry
MIT, SLOAN SCHOOL
1985 Nobel Prize in economics
MIT
1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry
NIH
1968 Nobel Prize in medicine
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
1996 Nobel Prize in physics
BELL LABS
1978 Nobel Prize in physics
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
1995 Nobel Prize in physics
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1989 Nobel Prize in physics
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
1976 Nobel Prize in physics
NEW ENGLAND BIOLABS
1993 Nobel Prize in medicine
CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIV.
1978 Nobel Prize in economics
RICE UNIVERSITY
1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry
CERN
1988 Nobel Prize in physics
YALE UNIVERSITY
1981 Nobel Prize in economics
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
1998 Nobel Prize in physics
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN
1979 Nobel Prize in physics
HARVARD-SMITHSONIAN, CTR. FOR ASTROPHYSICS
1978 Nobel Prize in physics
SUNY, STONY BROOK
1957 Nobel Prize in physics
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