DOOMSDAY CLOCK ADVANCES TWO MINUTES

[Dave Monroe]

Chicago, February 27, 2002: Today, the Board of
Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
moves the minute hand of the “Doomsday Clock,” the
symbol of nuclear danger, from nine to seven minutes
to midnight, the same setting at which the clock
debuted 55 years ago. Since the end of the Cold War in
1991, this is the third time the hand has moved
forward.

We move the hands taking into account both negative
and positive developments. The negative developments
include too little progress on global nuclear
disarmament; growing concerns about the security of
nuclear weapons materials worldwide; the continuing
U.S. preference for unilateral action rather than
cooperative international diplomacy; U.S. abandonment
of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and U.S.
efforts to thwart the enactment of international
agreements designed to constrain proliferation of
nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons; the crisis
between India and Pakistan; terrorist efforts to
acquire and use nuclear and biological weapons; and
the growing inequality between rich and poor around
the world that increases the potential for violence
and war. If it were not for the positive changes
highlighted later in this statement, the hands of the
clock might have moved closer still.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, founded by a
group of World War II-era Manhattan Project
scientists, has warned the world of nuclear dangers
since 1945. The September 11 attacks, and the
subsequent and probably unrelated use of the mail to
deliver deadly anthrax spores, breached previous
boundaries for terrorist acts and should have been a
global wake-up call. Moving the clock’s hands at this
time reflects our growing concern that the
international community has hit the “snooze” button
rather than respond to the alarm.

http://www.thebulletin.org/media/022702pr.html

http://www.thebulletin.org/clock.html

http://www.bullatomsci.org/

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