The Call for a Quick Move to Global Reductions

Gary Hart, former senator from Colorado,  published a piece about the current nuclear tipping point that exists in regards to the nuclear arsenal.  He cites the four statesmen op-ed and the creation of Global Zero as two of the largest reason behind bringing about this tipping point. When evaluating the reasons behind the shift, he postulates ideas that range from military to political to a care for future generations.  While the move toward global reductions has received increased press attention, there seems to be a great deal debate about the timeframe for these activities.  Hart argues,

Now faced with frightening economic consequences of unregulated market collapse and the prospects of a very long international economic recovery, a new Obama administration in Washington could well be looking at initiatives that bring increased security at little or no cost, or indeed that produce cost savings. Nuclear zero, elimination of nuclear arsenals, must be at the top of this list. It may be argued that the president must fix the economy first before anything else gains attention. This false argument assumes intelligent people can do only one thing, even one complex thing, at a time or that some talented economic people cannot carry out their project while other talented diplomatic people carry out quite another

How quickly can the United States move in the direction towards zero? How feasible is the realization of cost savings related to reducing the nuclear arsenal? How large of a role will nuclear reductions actually play on the very full plate of the incoming Administration?