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Ground Wave Emergency Network
GWEN-A Threat
According to environmental documents we have received, the United
States Air Force is actively preparing for fighting and winning a
protracted nuclear war. Across America, the Air Force is
constructing up to 400 towers specifically designed to allow the
transmission of trigger-release codes for B-1 bomber and MX
missile nuclear warheads at the beginning of nuclear war. This
system of radio towers is called the Ground Wave Emergency
Network(GWEN). Neither the Air Force, Congress, nor the American
public has adequately informed itself about what the use of GWEN
would mean to life on the planet. Nor, consequently, have we
been able to make a considered decision on whether we should
pursue such a politically and environmentally dangerous system.
There has been an important change in American plans for fighting
nuclear war since the early days of nuclear planning. The early
goal of massive retaliation was replaced in the Kennedy era with a
policy of "flexible response." More recently, selective use of
nuclear weapons was seen to be impaired by lack of real time
Presidential control over our nuclear warfighting capability.
Carter's Presidential Directive 59(July 25, 1980) set out to
ensure that improved communication would allow the President or a
successor to actively pursue nuclear war for a prolonged period.
These changes in nuclear policy have moved the U.S. toward the
use of nuclear weapons for war fighting, not war prevention. GWEN
is part of the system being built to allow nuclear war fighting.
What is GWEN?
GWEN is a network of low frequency radio towers whose purpose is
to send release messages to U.S. strategic forces at the beginning
of and during a nuclear conflict. The Air Force states two main
rationales for the system: GWEN is resistant to electromagnetic
pulse (although not hardened against nuclear blasts themselves)
and is an internally redundant system (messages can be switched
along various paths when certain towers are destroyed during a
nuclear war).
The network consists of three types of communications stations:
Input-Output Stations: These stations can both enter messages
for transmission through the GWEN network and receive messages
from the network. An example of such a station is the Strategic
Air Command headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.
Receive Only Stations: These stations will be located at missile
command centers and Air Force bases. Emergency Action Messages,
such as those that order the use of nuclear weapons, will be
received at these stations.
Relay Stations: These stations will make up the bulk of the GWEN
network and will consist of automated radio relays. These
stations will be located in areas that are currently not high
priority military targets (such as Eugene). The relay stations
will be organized so that messages can be routed around the
network even if large numbers of the relays are destroyed during
nuclear war. This will require several hundred relay stations.
The GWEN network is currently under construction, although a
small part of it is already operational. Construction of GWEN is
to take place in three phases. These phases are:
Phase 1: A limited number of test sites, presumably input/output
stations, have already been built at existing military
installations.
Phase 2: The Thin Line Connectivity Capability, currently under
construction, consists of 95 towers and would perform the GWEN
function temporarily.
Phase 3: Final Operational Capacity will involve towers
variously numbered at 158, 240, or "approximately 400," depending
on the Air Force document/informant cited. This phase has not
yet been built, nor funds for it appropriated, although the Army
Corps of Engineers has completed lease negotiations for some of
the sites.
Each site would consist of a 299 foot tower (presumably to get
around automatic imposition of the National Environmental Policy
Act requirement for an environmental impact statement for any
federally-funded 300 foot tower), a concrete building, and a
series of fences on a 700 foot square site. Underground, a
"ground screen" of copper wire would radiate to 330 feet at
regular intervals. Physically unimpressive, the towers are
presented to the public by the Air Force as radio towers for
"emergency communications."
Each tower will cost $1.4 million, the entire system a billion
dollars. Other systems such as AFSATCOM, Milstar, Green Pine,
and Giant Talk are designed to provide nuclear war communications
at other electromagnetic frequencies and with the same or other
weapons systems. Because of GWEN's relatively simplistic
technology, the Air Force presumes that GWEN will be replaced in
15 years by a satellite system.
GWEN and Environmental Law
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that
significant environmental or human health impacts of any proposed
federal project be assessed and described in an environmental
impact statement so that the public and decisionmakers can judge
whether the projects should be undertaken. As a federal project
funded by public money, the GWEN system and each GWEN tower fall
under the mandates of this law (whether or not the 300 foot tower
height is reached).
An environmental assessment is less complete than an
environmental impact statement, involves less public input, ad is
written for projects that are expected to have no significant
health or environmental impact. The Generic Environmental
Assessment for GWEN describes the environmental effects of
constructing the GWEN towers. It takes into account the
possibility of encountering "Indian" graves during excavation.
It states that no weed killers will be used that would
permanently damage the soil. Portable chemical toilets will be
used while building te tower. It describes the general range or
radio wave radiation that will emanate from the tower when in
use.
Despite other Air Force documents clearly demonstrating GWEN is
being built to assist with nuclear war, the Environmental
Assessment never mentions the words "nuclear war", nor does it
describe the role GWEN is to play in nuclear warfighting
strategy. THe National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) demands,
however, that the effects of a project in use be assessed and
discussed. In the case of a roadbuilding project, for instance,
NEPA requires more than an examination of the environmental
impact of road materials and road construction. NEPA requires a
discussion of the secondary impacts of using the road, e.g.
increased auto emissions or alteration of local community life.
The impacts of the GWEN system in use as yet remain unaddressed.
The only time GWEN will be put into use is to either start
nuclear war, or shortly after nuclear war has started. Its sole
function is to ensure that nuclear warfighting capability will
endure through what a Joint Chiefs of Staff publication calls
"graceful degradation, restart and recovery." On this basis, the
Air Force is required to review the impacts of a prolonged
nuclear war on the environment and on human health.
The environmental implications of at least four aspects of the
GWEN system need to be addressed in an environmental impact
statement:
1. GWEN contributes to the execution of prolonged nuclear war.
2. Any site on which a GWEN tower is built becomes a higher
priority target in the event of nuclear war.
3. Communications systems such as GWEN are essential for
conducting a prolonged nuclear war.
4. Systems such as GWEN contribute to the illusion that a nuclear
war is winnable, and therefore thinkable, and therefore more
likely.
What Now?
Citizens are currently suffering from the schizophrenic situation
in which scientists ad other technicians develop military
hardware to fill Caspar Weinberger's prescription that U.S.
nuclear forces should "prevail even under the conditions of a
prolonged war", while at the same time being told by other
scientists (biologists, climatologists, physicians, etc. that
really very little will prevail under the condition of nuclear
war except subfreezing temperatures, darkness, exposure to
ionizing and ultraviolet radiation, starvation, and mass
extinction.
We have reached the point where the mutual concerns of both peace
activists ad environmentalists are intertwined. There is no
greater threat to our environment than nuclear war. As our
government contrives new and more threatening systems for mass
destruction, the horrifying ad inevitable effects of the use
these systems must be enumerated if the public and the government
are to make meaningful and informed decisions.
The No-GWEN Alliance contends that the Air Force needs to prepare
an environmental impact statement that discusses the possibly
environmental effects of using GWEN to facilitate a prolonged
nuclear war. On June 27, we filed suit against the Air Force,
asking the court to enjoin the Air Force from continuing
construction on the GWEN system until it has described te
possible effects of GWEN in use, i.e., the effects of prolonged
nuclear war, and the likelihood that communities such as ours will
be a high priority for retaliation because of the GWEN system.
Several suits have been brought against the military regarding
weapons systems and they are relevant to our proposed suit:
Concerned About Trident v. Rumsfeld, Wisconsin v. Weinberger,
Catholic Action v. Weinberger, and Foundation on Economic Trends
v. Weinberger. These suits have addressed such issues as the
applicability of NEPA to the military, the need for assessment of
alternative sites and longterm effects of the weapon system in
place, and contemplated versus stated use for a weapons site.
Western Solidarity v. Reagan is a suit that has not yet been ruled
on; a minor emphasis of the suit involves the claim that the
effects of nuclear war must be addressed in the environmental
impact statement for the MX missile.
We have been joined in our efforts by citizens'groups in Chico,
California, and Amherst, Massachusetts, and by the Commissioners
of Lane Country, Oregon. Nationally renowned figures, such as
William Arkin of the Institute for Policy Studies ad Starley
Thompson of the TTAPS Report on Nuclear Winter have agreed to
give expert testimony on our behalf.
How Can You Help?
We need your financial support. As you know, legal suits are
expensive. The Air Force has virtually limitless funds to
subvert the intent and process of NEPA. We are a small group of
citizens who have come together to fight the arms race that is
being thrust into our backyards, but our goal is to force public
discussion of the entire concept of prolonged nuclear war rather
than to merely block the placement of one tower in Eugene. We
ask you to send a generous personal contribution ad to ask your
affiliated group to join and/or sponsor our effort.
Time is of the essence. The Air Force plans to conclude
construction of the TLCC phase before the end of the year.
It is only through coordinated commitment that this country's
citizens can seek to hold the military accountable for its
actions.
Thank you for taking the time to inform yourself on this issue of
vital concern to us. Thank you, also, in advance, for your
considered aid and generosity.
For more information, please contact:
NO-GWEN ALLIANCE of Lane County
P.O. Box 3197
Eugene, OR 97403
(503) 344-8052