On Friday, April 9, our group had the opportunity to visit the USS Growler Submarine Museum. The USS Growler was a nuclear missile submarine stationed off the coast of the Soviet Union during the 1960’s. During that time, it was ready to launch a nuclear missile at any moment.

The USS Growler is a part of the Intrepid Air and Space museum. We took the A train to 42 street, then walked to the intrepid with our chaperone Peter Fisher. The submarine is next to the intrepid floating in the water. Before entering the submarine we walked through a brief exhibition that explains the history behind the USS Growler. One thing I learned in this part of the museum was that the submarine launched a Regulus cruise missile. The Regulus was an unmanned nuclear missile that flew like an airplane after being launched via rockets.

After going through the exhibition, we got to enter the submarine. We learned that people would be inside of the submarine for 90 days at a time without going outdoors or breathing fresh air. Many of the sailors were afraid to launch a nuclear missile because of the threat of nuclear war and the submarine being attacked. Personally I cannot imagine what it was like to be in the submarine waiting for an order to launch a nuclear missile. The USS Growler was eventually retired in favor of a newer submarine, but instead of being demolished, it was brought to the Intrepid museum.

Visiting the USS Growler was a really amazing learning experience and Edward and I learned a lot. The information that we learned is really helpful for our project and we are really thankful.

Read more

On Friday, February 18th, my groupmate and I were given the opportunity to talk with and interview Lynn Rusten. Lynn Rusten is currently the Vice President of the Global Nuclear Policy Program at NTI. The NTI, which is short for Nuclear Threat Initiative works with lawmakers to forward the goal of nuclear disarmament. Lynn Rusten also served as the senior director for arms control and nonproliferation on the White House National Security Council staff.

During the duration of the interview, my groupmate Edward and I interviewed Lynn Rusten about many different topics relating to nuclear disarmament. One of the topics that we interviewed her about was the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons are nuclear weapons that are significantly smaller, and less powerful than most others. The point of tactical nuclear weapons is for them to be used during an actual battle, and for them to be used on a battlefield. When we questioned her about this, she mentioned that the military does not prefer nuclear weapons and that they don’t see them as useful or practical devices of war, but instead as deterrence.

Overall Edward and I learned a lot of really helpful information during our interview with Lynn Rusten, and we are really grateful for her time.

Read more

On Friday, the 11th of February, our group had the opportunity to speak with Daniel Prins. Daniel Prins has worked at the United Nations for 14 years, and currently is the Chief Security Sector Reform, Department of Peace Operations at the United Nations. He previously was the Chief, Conventional Arms Branch, Office for Disarmament Affairs.

Daniel Prins is incredibly knowledgeable on the topic of nuclear disarmament. During the duration of our hour conversation we discussed many topics relating to nuclear disarmament such as, nuclear terrorism, countries nuclear arsenals and agreements between nations. Edward and I learned a huge amount of new information, and Daniel Prins went into great detail.

One takeaway from the interview is that younger people need to think about the topic of nuclear disarmament. Nowadays, nuclear weapons are not viewed as a big threat by young people, but this is not the case. Nuclear tensions are still high, and countries are not taking away their weapons anytime soon.

Edward and I learned a lot of valuable information which was really helpful for our project. We are so thankful that we had the opportunity to interview Daniel Prins and we look forward to doing more research on nuclear disarmament.

Nuclear Disarment:
Bo Gardner
Edward Turbek

Read more

On Thursday, the 3rd of February my group and I got the chance to meet Samuel Hickey and Monica Montgomery for a virtual informational interview on zoom. They work for an organization, called, The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. They told us about current nuclear tensions, as well as how their organization works. We also learned about what people our age can do to help with nuclear disarmament. My partner, Edward Turbek, and I earned a lot from the interview, and are grateful for the opportunity to interview them.

Read more

On January 20th, Me and my group mate Edward presented to the grade our social justice project. My group worked well together and we were able to coordinate working hours. Our group learned a lot about our topic because we researched well together. Our research also helped us find organizations, and yesterday we got to interview one!

Read more