Global security

PSR-LA promotes diplomatic solutions to international conflicts to ensure that policy makers and the public have accurate and timely information about the public health consquences of nation security decisions.

We assert a strong medical voice against the development and use of nuclear weapons and work to address the medical and psychological consquences of war on civilian populations and American troops.

Nuclear Weapons

PSR-LA is working with our national organization to prevent the use and proliferation of nuclear weapons. PSR is a founding member of the Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World, which advocates that nations that possess nuclear weapons move swiftly toward multilateral, verifiable and irreversible nuclear disarmament. Click here to read the Wall Street Journal op-ed by former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense William Perrry, and former Senator Sam Nunn which outlines practical steps that the U.S. and Russia (who possess 95% of the world's nuclear weapons) can take toward disarmament.

Last year, PSR members helped persuade Congress to deny funding for a new nuclear bomb plant and proposed new nuclear bomb, the “Reliable Replacement Warhead.” However, the Bush Administration has proposed a new plan to overhaul the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. The plan, called “Complex Transformation,” includes building a new bomb plant that would enable the mass-production of nuclear weapons for the first time in two decades. Click here to watch Doug Shaw, director of PSR's Security Programs, talk at PSR-LA's membership dinner about the state of nuclear weapons today and what physicians can do to rid the world of these deadly weapons.

Preventing War with Iran

The United States is facing a dangerous showdown with Iran. PSR is working to promote a direct diplomatic solution, including bring our public health voice to The Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran. Please encourage your representative to support HR 5056 – the Iran Diplomatic Accountability Act of 2008. Click here to download PSR's fact sheet on Iran.

Last spring, PSR and six other national groups placed the ad to the left in Congressional Quarterly and The Washington Post. (Click image to see it full size.)

In April 2007, PSR produced the publication "War is Not the Answer: The Medical and Public Health Consquences of Attacking Iran."

Stopping the War in Iraq

PSR-LA has been a leading voice in Southern California against the war in Iraq. In October, 2006, we hosted a national conference "The Medical Consquences of the War in Iraq: Health Challenges Beyond the Battlefield." The conference addressed the effects of the Iraq war on Iraqi citizens and their families and American troops and their families. Hundreds of people attended this important event held in the Grand Salon at UCLA's Kerckoff Hall. Click here for conference speaker presentations, resources, and more.

Click here to read more about PSR's position on an Iraq exit strategy.

Global Security Educational Programs

PSR-LA is working to establish a new "security culture" in Los Angeles. Activists, scholars, elected officials, business-people, diplomats and PSR physicians gain greater insight through a PSR-LA sponsored monthly seminars entitled Global Security Seminar. Hosted by renown security scholar, , lectures include such topics as Security and Global Climate Change, effectiveness of the International Criminal Court, the Impact of Infectious Diseases in War. PSR-LA, Dr. Ramberg, and Dr. Michael Intriligator and the Center for Defense Information jointly present these seminar dinners at the UCLA Faculty Center.

PSR-LA regularly offers other lectures and presentations on nuclear weapon and national security issues. See calendar and events for upcoming events.

Los Angeles’ Unique Role

Los Angeles is one of the nation’s foremost military regions. Weapons are regularly shipped from Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station to Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. Marines depart from Camp Pendleton. Intercontinental ballistic missiles are built in Canoga Park, their engines tested in our foothills, and test-launched from Vandenberg AFB.

The missile defense program ^(pdf), and a majority of our nation’s military satellites are manufactured in the greater LA area. Despite the presence of this influential industry in our midst, the economic, environmental and moral implications of local military activities are largely ignored. PSR-LA offers tours of LA’s military environment, bringing home the moral, strategic, environmental and health issues. Please if you’re interested in learning more.

Security and Energy

The first reactors were exclusively built to garner the radioisotope, plutonium, to build nuclear weapons. Indeed, the average size commercial reactor produces approximately 200 pounds of plutonium each year. To limit the proliferation of nuclear bomb-making materials, PSR-LA believes in moving away from nuclear energy. PSR-LA is a board member of Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility. The group is seeking to pass legislation that would prohibit the relicensing of California’s nuclear plants until there is adequate and protective disposal site available.

PSR-LA's peace and security work is made possible in part by funding from the Ploughshares Fund.

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