Nevada Desert Experience :: Issues :: The Military Industrial Complex

- The Military Industrial Complex -

The Military Industrial Complex can be understood as the marriage of war-making and money-making. In the case of the United States, our ever increasing war-making budget is parceled out to a network of corporations to develop and manufacture war materials, including the American arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Many billions of American tax dollars each year are paid to Lockheed Martin, Bechtel, and other corporations.

The U.S. is currently spending more on its nuclear weapons’ program than it did at any point in the Cold War. While some argue that our nuclear weapons’ program is slowing with the move to sub-critical testing at the Test Site, nothing speaks stronger of the continuing escalation of nuclear treat than the allocation of cold hard cash. Such spending continues to drain resources that could be used to end hunger and other poverty related conditions worldwide. If we truly seek a free and democratic world, we must liberate ourselves from a consciousness framed in fear and vengeance and disarm the weapons of mass destruction here in our country.

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Test site manager sees challenges ahead - 12 March 2007- Las Vegas Review Journal Article in which the Test Site director discusses the role of the test site in testing the Reliable Replacement Warhead, Thermos tests, Divine Strake, and other programs.

NUCLEARISM: /NU-klee-ir-êsm/ [Mod. Eng., Psych., Relig.] (n) 1. ideology among some U.S. Americans and their allies in which nuclear weapons are held in such high esteem that they are regarded as essential to maintaining worldwide U.S. military and economic dominance. 2. belief rising in the late 20th century among many scientists, military persons, corporations, government agencies, and others within the military-industrial complex that nuclear weapons are useful, valuable, and needed to maintain/enforce "peace." 3. habitual engagement in working for the nuclear industry. 4. "death cult" (often subconsciously observed) which believes that peace is created by ultimate violence or threats of ultimate violence (i.e. the power to annihilate others); the worship of the deadliest substance that humans have created to-date.

In 1992, the United States signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Between 1992-1997 the United States in accordance with the Treaty stayed the all forms of nuclear testing. Since 1997, sub-critical nuclear testing has occurred regularly in violation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Sub-critical testing is the term used to describe the process of testing component pieces of a nuclear bomb without inducing a full explosion. While sub-critical testing is less politically visible, the resumption of any form of testing reinvigorates the nuclear weapons’ machine and greatly increases the possibility of a return to full scale testing in the near future.

- Recent Nuclear Tests -

1st Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 2 July 1997, “Rebound,” Los Alamos
2nd Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 18 Sept 1997, “Holog,” Livermore
3rd Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 25 March 1998, “Stagecoach,”
4th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 26 September 1998, “Bagpipe,” Nevada
5th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 11 October 1998, “Cimarron,”
6th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 9 February 1999, “Clarinet,”
7th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 27 September 1999, “Oboe”
8th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 10 October 1999, “Oboe” 2
9th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 6 February 2000, “Oboe 3,”
10th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 22 March 2000, “Thoroughbred,” Nevada Lyner facility
11th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 9 April 2000, “Oboe 4”
12th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 18 August 2000, “Oboe 5”
13th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 14 December 2000 “Oboe 6” Nevada
14th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 26 September 2001 “Oboe 8” Nevada
15th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 13 December 2001 “Oboe 7” Nevada
16th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 14 February 2002 “Vito” Nevada
17th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 7 June 2002 “Oboe 9” Nevada
18th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 29 August 2002 “Mario” Nevada
19th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 26 September 2002 “Rocco” Nevada
20th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 19 September 2003 “Piano” Nevada
21th Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 25 May 2004 “Armando” Nevada
22nd Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 23 February 2006 “Krakatau” Nevada
23nd Post-Moratorium U.S. Subcritical Test 30 August 2006 "Unicorn" Nevada