General Lee Butler
Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Strategic Air Command (1990-1994)

General Lee Butler and Mikhail Gorbachev, 1996 Forum

"We cannot sit in silent acquiescence to the faded homilies of the nuclear priesthood. It is time to reassert the primacy of individual conscience, the voice of reason and the rightful interest of humanity. That is the charter of this Forum. That is my obligation as a responsible citizen of our planet."

There is no greater challenge before humanity than the elimination of nuclear weapons from the earth. However, despite all the discussions held and treaties signed, there are still thousands of these weapons in existence around the world, mostly held by the United States and Russia, a decade after the end of the Cold War, nuclear proliferation, nuclear accident and nuclear terrorism remain perpetual possibilities. Many have spoken out against this threat. One man has done so with particular acuity and forcefulness, that man is General Lee Butler. Working with Senator Alan Cranston and others, he has given new voice to the need to eliminate nuclear weapons. In a speech he gave to the State of the World Forum last year, and subsequently to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., General Butler put forward the case against nuclear weapons with a cogency and eloquence which put the nuclear issue back on the political and public agenda. From 1990 through 1992, General Butler was the Commander of the Strategic Air Command, personally in charge of targeting all of the 15,000 warheads in the U.S. arsenal. The great paradox and agony he carried while holding this position is that he had come to the conclusion that these weapons served no strategic purpose and that the official strategy for their use had no rationality. Fortunately, during his tenure, Butler had the opportunity to dismantle the third triad of America's nuclear deterrents, a job he initiated and completed with precision and skill. Today, from the private sector, he continues to speak out against the weapons he once targeted and controlled.