Using NewsHour Extra Feature Stories

Overview: NewsHour Extra features stories can help students identify and interpret key issues in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up essay might be assigned as homework, or in another period.

Warm Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the questions on the reading comprehension handout.

Discussion: Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions.

Follow-up: Students can write an 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org] for possible publication.

Evaluation: Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or their editorial.

Story: President Pursues Controversial Nuclear Weapons Technology, 02/09/05
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june05/bunker_2-09.html

Initiating Questions:

1. What do you think of when you hear the words "nuclear weapons"?

2. Who has nuclear weapons?

3. Should the U.S. continue to make new nuclear weapons?

Reading Comprehension Questions: (click here for printout)

1. What does the Defense Secretary want from Congress and why does he want it?

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wants Congress to restore funding to determine if an existing nuclear warhead could be fitted with a hardened casing to boost its ability to hit underground targets. The research is necessary, he argues, to protect the United States from countries that are developing and storing weapons of mass destruction underground.

2. What are bunker busters?

RNEPs -- aka "bunker busters" -- are nuclear bombs with hard shells that can theoretically penetrate hundreds of feet into the ground. The idea is to limit the amount of damage done above ground by sending a bomb through rock, steel or concrete before detonating.

3. Why do some at the U.S. Defense Department think this new technology is important?

The U.S. Defense Department says countries like North Korea and Iran, suspected of pursuing nuclear weapons programs, are protecting military assets by hiding them underground in fortified bunkers. There are currently at least 10,000 bunkers in over 70 countries, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency.

"We can't necessarily match Cold War weapons to the new threats. We have to adapt capabilities that we have to meet the threats," said Major Paul Swiergosz, a department spokesman.

4. What do critics think this technology will do to international relations?

But critics warn that pursuing new nuclear bomb technologies could hinder international nonproliferation efforts.

"You can't tell everyone 'don't touch nuclear weapons' while continuing to build them," International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed ElBaradei told The Washington Post.

5. How has the congressman who pulled the research program's funding last year responded to this new technology?

Congressman Hobson, who directed last year's funds to programs focusing on ways to improve the reliability and lifespan of existing warheads to avoid new tests, was initially against the idea.

"When we want countries such as Iran and North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons development, it is hypocritical for the United States to embark on new weapons and testing initiatives," Hobson said in the Washington Times newspaper.

But in a recent speech, he described himself as open-minded, saying that if the Defense Department can convince him that the programs are critical for the safety and protection of the United States, he may reconsider.

"What I'm calling for is a dialogue," he said.

Discussion Activity (more research might be needed):

1. Pretend that you are a member of Congress. Would you allocate money for the bunker buster program? Why or why not? Explain your answer.

2. What is the purpose of the International Atomic Energy Agency? Why might its opinions about nuclear bunker buster technology be different from those of the U.S. Defense Department? Which opinion is more important? Why?

3. Pretend that you are a world leader. Where are you from? Would you encourage North Korea or Iran to stop production of nuclear weapons? If yes, how would you do that? Do you think the threat of force is important? Plot out your strategy.

Write a 500-800 word essay on any of these topics providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org]. Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site.