Are there nuclear weapons aboard submarines visiting Nanoose Bay?
Project Ploughshares by Bill Robinson Nanoose and Nuclear Weapons The following information was supplied to the BC government’s lawyers for use in the hearings Are nuclear weapons being brought into Nanoose aboard U.S. Navy vessels? Statements by the federal government on this question have been confusing and contradictory. Minister of National Defence Art Eggleton told the House of Commons on 25 May 1999 that “with respect to nuclear weapons being aboard any of the U.S. vessels that come into the [Nanoose] area, it is the policy of the U.S. government not to do that.” But his open letter of 21 June 1999, posted on the DND website, added extremely significant qualifications to this statement, stating that “the United States has a general policy of not carrying tactical nuclear weapons aboard ships visiting Canadian waters” [ emphasis added ] The latter formulation is the correct one. The qualifications added to Minister Eggleton’s open letter highlight two crucial facts: • First, the p
