~

Last Thoughts: Nuclear Pittsfield

Russia has 1,549 strategic nuclear weapons that we know of plus another 2,000 "dual use" intercontinental ballistic missiles that can be equipped with nuclear or non-nuclear warheads. Most of these are pointed at the United States. That doesn't even count the tactical nuclear warheads that could be used against our troops, our ships, and our allies.

In contrast, Ukraine has zero nuclear weapons. That means no nuclear weapons targeting the United States or anywhere else. In fact, when Ukraine decommissioned its nuclear weapons in 1994 after the fall of the Soviet Union, it did so under the condition that the United States would defend its sovereignty from Russian aggression. Ukraine made the world safer and we made a promise to its leaders to get them to do so.

Starting with General Electric and continuing with General Dynamics, Pittsfield has been home to a significant nuclear defense facility, namely the production of Trident II nuclear missiles and the Columbia Class nuclear-armed submarines. The Berkshires have been worried about being a target of a nuclear strike my entire life. It got a lot more attention back when my dad worked for GE than it gets now. Many of us have become desensitized to this threat to our community and to our country.

A nuclear strike on Pittsfield would obliterate everything within a several mile radius. Radiation poisoning would easily reach my home around 8 miles away. Lord only knows how widespread the forest fires would reach, but contiguous forests span from Pittsfield to Williamstown north and Sheffield South. As for fall out, well that depends on the prevailing winds. Generally, winds travel West to East, unless there's a Nor'easter. So Dalton, Washington (MA), and Lanesborough are more likely to be poisoned from fall out than say Stockbridge or Great Barrington. But hey, winds change direction so who knows.

Our neighbors to the north in Pittsfield and Dalton would die fast via incineration. Many of the rest of us would die slower via radiation poisoning.

I was struck by the conversations last week between the heads of France, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. Their leaders were coaching Zelenskyy on how to flatter our president to get along better with him.

My dad worked his entire career starting in 1956 at Pittsfield's GE. Thankfully, during this time and through to the present, these weapons were never used in a conflict. That didn't happen by accident. The United States led the world with its nearly century-long strategy of nuclear deterrence against and armed and aggressive totalitarian state.

The threat from non-state actors is equally alarming.

Of all the disruption of the last six weeks, it is the purges at the CIA, FBI and the National Security Council that worry me the most, let alone how these cuts may be impacting the massive, classified NSA signals intelligence operation that has successfully intercepted multiple planned attacks since 9/11.

Winston Churchill said, "People have friends. Nations have interests." National security isn't about "good television" or being bros with the flattering leaders of our nuclear adversaries like Putin or Xi or Kim. It is deadly serious business conducted successfully by generations of leaders both Republican and Democrat.