Ask presidential candidates about nuclear and climate issues, says former energy secretary Moniz

Former energy secretary urges voters to ask about nuclear issues

– 26 Jan 2020 Conversations at town halls around New Hampshire have been focused on domestic policy, like the job market and health insurance.

At a forum Monday, Ernst Moniz, who served as energy secretary under former President Barack Obama and is now CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, will try to convince New Hampshire voters to look beyond those kitchen table issues, and ask presidential primary candidates about nuclear weapons

“The bread-and-butter issues if you like—the economy, health care, education—are typically a major focus at this time of the political season, Moniz said Saturday. Voters are typically less worried about foreign policy and security issues like nuclear weapons.

“Unfortunately, catastrophic risks for our society and future gens are very, very considerable.”

Moniz said he hoped Monday’s forum would spur voters to think about nuclear proliferation when they talk to candidates, as much as kitchen table issuse.

New Hampshire voters can shape candidates, he said.

With the history of the political tradition in New Hampshire, where I think priorities for candidates can be shaped, we are hoping to bring those issues to the attention of the New Hampshire voters.

In an interview Saturday, Moniz spoke about what he saw as a growing potential for accidents and miscalculations to be made with nuclear weapons.

“Especially in the context of the current international geopolitical situation,” Moniz said, citing tensions with Russia and uncertainty in the Middle East.

International treaties have a strong role to play in arms control, Moniz said, and he hopes whoever wins the 2020 election will take those treaties seriously. A treaty with Russia known as New START is due to be renewed in the next president’s term, Moniz said.

“If we do not, we will have upended the entire hierarchy of nuclear arms control,” he said. If New Hampshire voters want to ask about these issues, Moniz said, it could impact how much attention is paid to nuclear weapons during the 2020 election. He recalled the 2004 election, when Nuclear Threat Initiative activists raised the specter of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorist groups. He said that issue became critical in the 2004 election.

Moniz said this year, he would ask candidates what they would you do to re-starting dialogue between the Russia and the United States nuclear weapons, what they would do to stabilize North Korea, how they would protect against cyber attacks that could affect the United States’ early warning systems

“If the New Hampshire voters are asking these questions, if the media are putting these questions out in front and getting responses from the candidates, that raises those issues in the priorities of these candidates,” he said.

“This is the right time in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, where the people the voters are so much closer to the candidates. They do in fact have influence in how these issues can be talked about now and addressed over the next several years.

Moniz will speak at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Southern New Hampshire University, in the Hospitality Center Salon Rooms. Register online at https://wacnh.org/event-3673124.