Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing

Summary

Up First from NPR – Detailed Summary
Episode: Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Release Date: January 31, 2025

NPR's Up First delivers a comprehensive overview of the day's most pressing news stories in a concise format. In this episode, listeners are informed about a tragic plane crash near Washington, D.C., the rise of far-right politics in Germany, and the current state of nuclear weapons testing in the United States. Below is a detailed summary of each segment, enriched with notable quotes and timestamps for reference.

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1. Plane Crash Over Washington, D.C.

Overview:
A devastating collision occurred over the Potomac River involving an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, resulting in the loss of 67 lives. Investigators are meticulously analyzing the recovered cockpit voice and flight data recorders to determine the causes of the accident.

Key Points:

• Recovery Efforts:
  Federal investigators have successfully retrieved the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the American Airlines jet. According to Michelle Martin at [00:02], these recordings are crucial for understanding the sequence of events leading to the collision.

• Crew Information:
  Preliminary details about the flight crew have emerged. Frank Langfit reports at [03:17], “The pilot was Jonathan Campos, 34, and the first officer was Sam Lilly, late 20s, both based in Charlotte.”

• Investigative Focus:
  The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is particularly interested in the altitude data and the final cockpit conversations before the collision. Frank Langfit elaborates at [02:29], “They want to see about the plane's performance data points, including altitude, leading up to and at the time of the collision.”

• FAA Controller Responsibilities:
  Concerns have been raised about the FAA controller handling both helicopter and airplane communications, a role typically managed by two individuals. Langfit notes at [04:04], “This was an FAA report that's been quoted by a number of news sources. It's not ideal, but analysts say it's also not unusual and not necessarily dangerous, depending on traffic volume.”

• Ongoing Investigations:
  The NTSB aims to release a preliminary report within approximately 30 days, emphasizing the importance of confirming facts before dissemination ([05:21] Frank Langfit).

Notable Quote:
Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized the motion to work with extremist parties, stating, “What are these words worth now?” ([07:51]).

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2. Rise of the Far-Right in German Politics

Overview:
Germany's political landscape is experiencing significant shifts as mainstream parties engage with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. This move challenges decades-long political norms aimed at excluding extremist elements from government influence.

Key Points:

• Parliamentary Motion:
  The German parliament passed a motion to restrict immigration by turning back asylum seekers, a move spearheaded by Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Michelle Martin introduces this story at [00:13].

• Collaboration with AfD:
  Merz's decision to collaborate with the AfD, known for its extremist views, breaks a longstanding political taboo. Rob Schmitz explains at [06:14], “None of the mainstream parties were interested in voting with Merz's party on this proposal, but the AfD was very keen to join him.”

• Historical Context:
  Post-World War II, German mainstream parties had a consensus to exclude extremist parties like the AfD to safeguard democracy. Schmitz highlights, “Since World War II, there's been a consensus among Germany's mainstream political parties that extremist parties must never be allowed in government again” ([07:10]).

• Political Strategy:
  Analysts suggest that Merz is leveraging the AfD's popularity on immigration issues to siphon voters and elevate his party’s standing ahead of upcoming elections. This strategy is seen as risky and potentially undermining democratic integrity ([08:18]).

• Public and Party Reaction:
  The move has ignited fierce debates, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and former Chancellor Angela Merkel publicly criticizing Merz. Scholz questioned the trustworthiness of Merz’s promises, stating, “What are these words worth now?” ([07:51]).

Notable Quote:
Friedrich Merz defended his cooperation with the AfD by asserting, “The right decision does not become wrong because the wrong people have made it. The decision is still right” ([07:48]).

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3. Nuclear Weapons Testing in Nevada

Overview:
Despite the end of active nuclear testing in the 1990s, the United States continues to maintain and study its nuclear arsenal through subcritical experiments. NPR’s Jeff Brumfield provides an in-depth look into these ongoing efforts at a secretive Nevada laboratory.

Key Points:

• Visit to Nevada National Security Site:
  Jeff Brumfield describes his visit to the underground lab where nuclear weapons are still studied. Accessing the facility requires descending nearly 1,000 feet into the desert via a mining elevator ([09:26]).

• Subcritical Experiments:
  These experiments involve using nuclear materials without causing a runaway chain reaction, allowing scientists to gather data on weapon performance. Don Haynes from Los Alamos National Lab explains, “They don't need to do a full system test of a weapon” ([10:14]).

• Technological Advances:
  The data from subcritical experiments is analyzed using supercomputers, effectively simulating nuclear detonations without actual explosions. This method maintains the technical readiness of nuclear weapons while adhering to testing moratoriums ([10:18]).

• Political Considerations:
  Despite scientific consensus on the efficacy of subcritical experiments, political factors may drive considerations for full-scale testing. The Trump administration's Project 2025 suggests keeping the option open for nuclear testing to demonstrate resolve or respond to international threats ([11:19]).

• International Implications:
  Resuming nuclear tests could have detrimental effects on global arms control efforts. Jamie Kwong from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace warns, “Arms control experts say this would be a huge mistake for America” ([12:09]).

• Strategic Advantage:
  The U.S. currently holds a technical advantage due to its extensive history of nuclear testing compared to other nations like China, which has conducted significantly fewer tests. Reinitiating tests would disproportionately benefit adversaries ([12:16]).

Notable Quote:
Rob Schmitz comments on the strategic value of avoiding full tests: “Our assessment is that there are no system questions that would be answered by a test that would be worth the expense and the effort and the time” ([10:54]).

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Conclusion

This episode of Up First by NPR provides listeners with critical updates on a tragic aviation incident, significant shifts in German political dynamics involving extremist parties, and the complex considerations surrounding nuclear weapons testing in the U.S. Through expert analysis and firsthand reporting, the podcast offers a nuanced understanding of these multifaceted issues.

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Notable Contributors:

• Michelle Martin: Host providing leading narratives and transitions.
• Imi Martinez: Co-host facilitating discussions and interviews.
• Frank Langfit: NPR correspondent specializing in aviation safety ([02:29], [04:04]).
• Rob Schmitz: Berlin correspondent offering insights into German politics ([05:56], [06:14]).
• Jeff Brumfield: Reporter covering nuclear weapons testing ([09:22], [10:14]).

Support and Production Credits:
This episode was expertly edited by Denise Rios, Ryland Barton, Giselle Grayson, Janaeo Williams, and Alice Wolfley, with production handled by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, Claire Murashima, and Chris Thomas. Engineering support was provided by Arthur Laurent, and Stacey Abbott served as the technical director. Kelly Dickens was the executive producer.

For more detailed reporting and analysis, listeners are encouraged to subscribe to Up First and support NPR’s vital journalism efforts.

Transcript

[Michelle Martin]

We're starting to learn the identities of crew members on board the flights that collided just outside Washington, D.C. cockpit recordings.

[Imi Martinez]

From the jet have also been recovered. What can they tell investigators about why this happened?

[Michelle Martin]

I'm Michelle Martin. That's a Martinez. And this is up first from NPR News. The German parliament passed a motion to restrict immigration by turning back asylum seekers at the border. It narrowly passed with the support of the country's extremist far right party lawmakers. Cooperation with them broke a long standing taboo against working with the far right. What does it mean that these extremists are now participating in mainstream politics?

[Imi Martinez]

And we pay a visit to a top secret lab underneath the Nevada desert where nuclear weapons are tested and studied. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.

[Unknown]

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[Imi Martinez]

[e-mail] Prevention Federal investigators have retrieved the cockpit voice and flight data recorders from the American Airlines jet that collided with an army helicopter Wednesday night.

[Michelle Martin]

The crash, which occurred over the Potomac river, killed 67 people. We're also beginning to learn the identities of some of the crew on those aircraft.

[Imi Martinez]

NPR's Frank Langfit has been following this story. Frank, so what will investigators be hoping to find out from the black boxes of that regional jet?

[Frank Langfit]

Yeah, a I think the final conversations in the cockpit, obviously before the two aircraft collided. Also be able to see about the plane's performance, data points and including and I think this is really important, the altitude of the Plane leading up to and at the time of the collision. It's not yet clear how these two aircraft who are supposed of course, to pass at a safe distance, how they ended up in the same place at the same time, of course, also are going to need the Army Black Hawk black box to be able to compare. And a question that's really coming up I think, particularly yesterday talking to people at ntsb, is was that helicopter on the right flight path? The Blackhawks recorder, as far as we know right now, is still in the river, but the National Transportation Safety Board, they're very confident they'll retrieve it.

[Imi Martinez]

Okay, what do we know about the crew of the American Airlines jet?

[Frank Langfit]

Yeah, we've got some confirmations here. The pilot was Jonathan campos. He was 34. The first officer, a man named Sam Lilly in his late 20s, both based in Charlotte, really avid flight flyers. And Lilly is a second generation pilot. His father, Tim used to fly for Air Wisconsin. And writing on Facebook yesterday, Tim Lilly wrote that Sam's career had been going very well and he was engaged to be married in the fall. And he wrote this. He said, now it hurts so bad, I can't even cry myself to sleep. Now, later today, we should learn the identities of the three service members who were crewing the Blackhawk.

[Imi Martinez]

Okay, Frank, there are reports that the Federal Aviation Administration has said that the controller handling helicopters was also instructing planes. That's a job normally done by two people. So did federal investigators have anything to say about that?

[Frank Langfit]

Yeah, this was an FAA report that's been quoted by a number of news sources. Ntsb. This is one of the board members, a guy named Todd Inman spoke yesterday and he said they had not reviewed any specific reports about the controllers, but said, of course, as a matter of course, you know, you're going to be looking at what was going on in the control room and with the controllers. This is what he said.

[Michelle Martin]

Our investigators are continuing to pull all that information, their personnel records, their files, where they were at, whether they were fatigued. All that information will be part of that investigative process.

[Frank Langfit]

And, you know, a. That's not ideal, but analysts say it's also not unusual and not necessarily dangerous, depending on how much traffic is going on at the time.

[Imi Martinez]

All right, so today, another day of searching. What are people hoping to find out today?

[Frank Langfit]

Yeah, I mean, just more information. You know, the NTSB yesterday down at Reagan national, you know, during the press conference, they didn't say very much and they're planning another briefing today. And typically it's the second day where you learn a bit more. You know, yesterday was just the first day the team was on the ground. And I'm actually looking at photos right now of NTSB workers opening up those black boxes from the airliner. And federal investigators, what they're really emphasizing is they want to be really careful about confirming facts before they pass them on. And there should be a preliminary report on this accident. Should be completed in about 30 days.

[Imi Martinez]

30 days. Okay. That's NPR's Frank Langfit. Frank, thank you.

[Frank Langfit]

Good to talk, eh?

[Imi Martinez]

What started as a motion to do more to restrict immigration to Germany has now become something bigger.

[Michelle Martin]

It has erupted into a fierce national debate over the degree to which the country should allow its most extreme political elements into mainstream politics. And at the center of this debate is the man who is the frontrunner to become Germany's next chancellor.

[Imi Martinez]

NPR's Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz joins us to discuss this. So set the scene for us, Rob, how did all this start?

[Rob Schmitz]

So this all started with a parliamentary motion to restrict immigration from Friedrich Merz. He's the head of the Christian Democratic Union, a center right party that's ahead in the polls and will likely win the most votes in Germany's election next month. And that means Merz will likely be Germany's next chancellor.

[Imi Martinez]

All right, so what did he do in parliament this week?

[Rob Schmitz]

Well, he brought forth a motion to further restrict immigration to Germany. And this comes on the heels of recent deadly attacks committed by migrants. Now, on the face of it, there was nothing off about Mehrze's motion in parliament about this, but it was how he was going to pass this motion that really upset much of parliament and many Germans upset.

[Imi Martinez]

So what was so upsetting to lawmakers about?

[Rob Schmitz]

Well, none of the mainstream parties were interested in voting with Merz's party on this proposal, but there was one party that was very keen to join him, and that's the AfD, the alternative for Germany Party, which is considered by Germany's political establishment as an extremist right wing party. The AFD has advocated deporting all Germans with a migration background. Some of its members use Nazi slogans and the party is under domestic surveillance for the threat that it poses to Germany's democracy.

[Imi Martinez]

So, Rob, just a guess here, but because of Germany's history in World War II, I'd imagine that a party like AfD is probably worrying a lot of people.

[Rob Schmitz]

Yeah, that's right. And Since World War II, there's been a consensus among Germany's mainstream political parties that extremist parties must never be allowed in government again. And when the AFD first gained popularity a decade ago, Meertz's party and Germany's other mainstream parties made a pact to never cooperate with the AfD. This was called the firewall. But now Meirza is signaling that he's open to cooperating with AFD on this immigration motion. And here's how he defended his decision. And he's saying here that the right decision does not become wrong because the wrong people have made it. The decision he said is still right.

[Imi Martinez]

Okay. How are other mainstream parties responding to all this?

[Rob Schmitz]

Lots of anger. As Merz defended himself, a yelling match began in parliament and Chancellor Olaf Scholz finally took the podium. Here's what he said. Schulz said that three weeks ago Merz promised never to cooperate with AfD, and voters trusted him. What are these words worth now? He asked. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who's in the same party as Merz, also has criticized him for doing this.

[Imi Martinez]

Any indication of why Merz did this?

[Rob Schmitz]

Well, there is an election in a few weeks and it's possible Merz is cooperating with the AFD on immigration because up to now the AFD has owned this issue and it's led to high poll numbers. They're now in second place and Elon Musk has recently come out to support them. So the logic goes, if Meirtz's party can steal some of that spotlight, perhaps he can chip into that support and take some of those voters to his party. Many are blaming him for playing a dangerous game with Germany's democracy.

[Imi Martinez]

On this, that's NPR's Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz. Rob, thanks.

[Rob Schmitz]

Thanks.

[Michelle Martin]

Nuclear weapons testing might seem like a relic of the Cold War. Three, two, one.

[Imi Martinez]

But the world's major nuclear powers are eyeing each other with suspicion. Each believes the other might conduct a nuclear test.

[Michelle Martin]

Soon as all this is happening, NPR's Jeff Brumfield got an extraordinary look inside America's program to maintain its nuclear weapons. And he's with us now to tell us more about it. Jeff, good morning.

[Jeff Brumfield]

Good morning.

[Michelle Martin]

So just start out by telling us where you went and what you saw.

[Jeff Brumfield]

Yeah, I went out to the Nevada National Security Site. It used to be the Nevada test site where America tested its nuclear warheads. That hasn't happened since the 1990s, but scientists are still studying nuclear weapons down there in a top secret lab that's deep underground. To get there, you have to step into this mining elevator and it drops you nearly 1,000ft below the desert. At the bottom is a network of tunnels that's been carved out of an ancient lake bed. David Funk is overseeing upgrades to the labs, and he told me these tunnels were originally dug for underground nuclear detonations. Yeah, this was designed to be nuclear tested location originally, and now we do.

[Imi Martinez]

Only subcritical experiments in this location.

[Michelle Martin]

Okay. He said subcritical experiments, Jeff, what does that mean?

[Jeff Brumfield]

Well, subcritical experiments are experiments that use nuclear weapons material like plutonium, but they don't trigger a runaway nuclear chain reaction. That's the reaction that gives bombs their incredible power. The data from these experiments is fed into supercomputers that calculate how nuclear weapons are doing. Basically, they're simulating blowing up nukes inside these supercomputers now in the tunnels. I spoke to Don Haynes, a nuclear weapons scientist from Los Alamos National Lab. He says this whole system works. They don't need to do a full system test of a weapon.

[Rob Schmitz]

Our assessment is that there are no system questions that would be answered by a test that would be worth the expense and the effort and the time.

[Jeff Brumfield]

But of course, Haynes is just a scientist. It's the politicians and generals who are going to decide whether the US Conducts another test.

[Michelle Martin]

To that point, though, do we know what the Trump administration plans to do with regards to nuclear testing?

[Jeff Brumfield]

So during the first Trump administration, there was some discussion of testing. And over the summer, his former national security advisor wrote that the US should conduct a full nuclear test under Trump 2.0. And then there's Project 2025, a conservative agenda whose authors have close ties to Trump. It also says the president should have the option to do a test if.

[Michelle Martin]

Well, Jeff, why would he need to?

[Jeff Brumfield]

Well, as we just heard, the scientists don't need to test. But there may be political reasons. You know, other countries might threaten the US with nuclear weapons or the president might need to display his resolve. And one way to do that would be to conduct a test.

[Michelle Martin]

So what would be the consequences of a return to testing?

[Jeff Brumfield]

Arms control experts say this would be a huge mistake for America, and the reason is kind of interesting. Here's Jamie Kwong with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

[Imi Martinez]

The US Has a technical advantage locked in by this moratorium on nuclear testing.

[Jeff Brumfield]

And that's because the US has done well over 1,000 nuclear tests, while China has only done 45. So China will gain a lot more knowledge from Test 46 than the U.S. will from its next test.

[Michelle Martin]

That is NPR's Jeff Broomfield. Jeff, thank you.

[Jeff Brumfield]

Thank you.

[Imi Martinez]

And that's up first for Friday, January 31st. I'm Imi Martinez and I'M Michelle Martin.

[Michelle Martin]

And just a reminder, up first airs on weekends, too. Aisha Roscoe and Scott Simon will have the news. Look for it wherever you get your podcasts.

[Imi Martinez]

Today's episode of up first was edited by Denise Rios, Ryland Barton, Giselle Grayson, Janaeo Williams and Alice Wolfley was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas and Claire Murashima. Also Chris Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent and our technical director is Stacey Abbott. Our executive producer is Kelly Dickens. Joining us again.

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