February 9, 2026

Friends -- 

We've been super-busy here, catching up as best we can in the present tumultuous environment. 

First, nuclear movie night. To mark the end of arms control as we have known it for six decades, we will be showing "Dr. Strangelove." There will be snacks, discussion, and camaraderie. 

When Oliver Stone viewed the film with V. V. Putin, who was seeing it for the first time, Putin rightly called it "a documentary." And so it is. 

We're doing this at our offices (2901 Summit Place NE, Albuquerque). Let us know if you want to come, because we only have room for about fifteen people in all. 

Second, challenge coins update. Our glow-in-the-dark challenge coins (images) came; more than half have already gone out the door. After today's shipment there will be ~40 left. Get one for $30 from Trish "while supplies last." 

In case it was not clear, the inscription "LEAVING THE JOURNEY OF DEATH" referred not just to our society but a specific place, the Jornada del Muerto (the Dead Man's Journey, a waterless shortcut on the overall El Camino Real from Old Mexico), where the Trinity test was done. And the inscription "PEACE IS OUR PROFESSION" refers not just to the vocation of peace we and our colleagues (that's many of you) embrace here, but but to the motto of the U.S. Strategic Command, which commands U.S. nuclear weapons. We stole it. 

Third, there will soon be news articles about the newly-lowered safety and security standards at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). (LANL prefers terms like "right-sizing" to "lowered.") We discussed this in Bulletin 373. An accurate article tailored to the Los Alamos audience has appeared: "At Nuclear Deterrence Summit, Lab Directors Frame Regulatory Reform As Key To Modernization," LA Daily Post, Feb 5, 2026. Maybe one sentence sums it up: "[Mark] Davis [at LANL] said risk management must shift focus from individual exposure to enterprise-level consequences." (emphasis added). 

And what are those "enterprise-level consequences"? They are monetary: more money, or less money. That must be the new focus. And that primarily depends on LANL's success in meeting pit production and other schedules. One executive branch official we spoke to this morning told us the policy direction his group had received was, "Go fast." That about sums it up. There are silver linings in this situation, as you may also discern. We are in the silver lining business. 

Fourth, if you want to actually accomplish something you must work locally, for the same reason that nails have points and large rocks are broken with hammers, chisels, and wedges. A lot of force gets concentrated on small spots that way. New Mexico is the U.S. capital of nuclear weapons; Los Alamos is an immediately-necessary production agency for the new arms race. The Trump Administration understands this perfectly, except they do not see how horrible a site for this mission it actually and objectively is. We have to tell them. Don't be distracted by generalities and vague idealism that goes -- where exactly? Nowhere, usually. Get active right here and now, where you can be powerful. Put your idealism to work. Put foundations under your dreams. Let's keep our feet on the ground. Be the hope. Work with us. 

Greg, for the Study Group