Danger sails into Puget Sound on a Trident submarine

On the afternoon of Oct. 17, a crane lowered a black steel gangplank to the hull of the USS Pennsylvania, marking the deployment of the Trident D-5 missile at Bangor. Our region is a more dangerous place because of this new missile -- in regard to projected use against Middle East and Asian targets, as a target for other nations and as a physically dangerous and complex weapons system.

The D-5 (Trident II) weighs 130,000 pounds, compared with 73,000 pounds for the older C-4 (Trident I). Both were designed in the '70s for a first strike (long before the current Bush administration ever spoke of pre-emptive attacks against other nations). The Trident D-5 is more accurate than the C-4 and can carry eight of the larger W88 475 kiloton nuclear warheads, compared with the W76 100 kiloton warheads.

The estimated cost for the base conversion and the refit and operation of four of the eight Trident submarines stationed at Bangor is more than $19 billion. No explanation for the D-5 missile upgrade was ever given. The upgrade at Bangor shows again that a democratic society and nuclear weapons are incompatible when congressional committees and the Pentagon decide the fate of the world.

Who should we thank for this new nuclear missile?

In August 1997, soon after the D-5 upgrade was announced, peace activists were arrested trying to enter the base. Since then there have been 11 demonstrations at Bangor, with a total of 108 arrests at protests in opposition to nuclear weapons and the Trident D-5 upgrade. Bangor is but 15 miles from Seattle, yet almost no mention of this has been in the Seattle media.

In June 1999 a Kitsap County jury acquitted eight peace activists, with one juror stating, "If the government is making [nuclear weapons], then they're committing the bigger crime." In another case, a judge acquitted four activists, stating they were attempting to "give information." In 2000, after losing three trials in a row, the county prosecutor announced he would stop prosecuting anti-Trident activists. Trident, instead, had been put on trial and there was no defense for the system. The Seattle media paid no attention to any of this.

In June 2000 an environmental lawsuit was filed in federal court against the Trident D-5 missile upgrade at Bangor. The Trident base had not conducted an environmental review since 1989 and that assessment was based upon environmental impact statements from the '70s. Studies from the early '90s show the D-5 missile is capable of detonating upon impact. In a loading operation at the Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor, such an accident would spread plutonium throughout the Puget Sound region. One short news story on the lawsuit appeared in one Seattle newspaper.

The Navy knows it wins the debate on controversial weapons programs if it can minimize publicly available information.

The Navy does not want us to know: (1) explosive rocket motor shipments will start again on railroads from Utah through Washington in violation of previous agreements; (2) nuclear warheads will be shipped on Washington highways back to Texas for service extension and upgrades in violation of earlier agreements made by Sen. Warren Magnuson in the '70s; and (3) no logical use exists for the D-5 missile unless our military uses it for the wholesale destruction of other nations.

Lately the Navy has become aggressive in framing issues with the media to fit its purposes ("Peaceful end to Cold War mission," Oct. 1 P-I, and "Welcome to the Pacific," Oct. 18 P-I). There is nothing like a ride on a Trident submarine for reporters to advance the Navy's case for new weapons programs.

Who can we thank for the new D-5 missile? Activists did their part to halt deployment, often risking jail time and physical harm.

After 9/11, the peace movement in the United States was labeled irrelevant by many pundits, including a number of P-I writers. As we see the rush to war by the Bush administration, perhaps the media has become irrelevant instead, by failing to report the day-to-day proliferation of our nation's offensive weapons systems.

Glen Milner lives in Seattle and is a member of Ground Zero Center for Non-violent Action in Poulsbo; www.gzcenter.org

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