Promoting a World without Nuclear Weapons
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Introduction:
During the 2008 Presidential Election, the Democratic Party declared its support for one of our top goals –“…a world with no nuclear weapons.” Three
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty [CTBT] – A multilateral treaty that prohibits the testing of nuclear weapons. This measure helps to limit the harmful affect of nuclear weapons on the environment and slows the production of new nuclear arms. The U.S. has signed but not ratified the treaty and the treaty has not yet entered into force. . Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT] – A multilateral treaty designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to further the goal of nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament, and to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The U.S. is party to the treaty and the Obama administration is committed to disarmament.. Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty [START] - A bilateral disarmament treaty between Russia and the United States that has significantly reduced nuclear stockpiles in both nations. The December 2009 expiration of the START I treaty, which reduces and limits U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles, will provide an opportunity to build political support for new agreements to eliminate these weapons of mass destruction.
In his first press conference, President Barack Obama stated:
What I know is this: that if we see a nuclear arms race in a region as volatile as the Middle East, everybody will be in danger. And one of my goals is to prevent nuclear proliferation generally. I think that it's important for the United States, in concert with Russia, to lead the way on this….I've mentioned this in conversations with the Russian president, Mr. Medvedev, to let him know that it is important for us to restart the conversations about how we can start reducing our nuclear arsenals in an effective way.
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty - U.S. Department of State
CTBT: Now More Than Ever
Not even at the 100-day mark yet, the Obama Administration has already declared its goal of working toward a world without nuclear weapons. The President stated in Prague, Czech Republic on April 5, 2009:
...clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.
What can the U.S. do to get the CTBT to enter into force?
Following the creation of the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968), there was talk in the international community for decades about the possibility of a treaty to comprehensively ban all nuclear testing. The idea was left aside, in part because it was impossible to know if tests had been conducted in secret. It was politically unrealistic to make a complete test ban during the atmosphere of the Cold War.
The technology of detecting nuclear tests has improved vastly over the years and the Cold War over, the possibility of a useful treaty came into being. Negotiations continued throughout the 1990s until 1996, when the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was completed and began accepting signatories and ratification. The main provisions of the treaty are the complete ban on testing nuclear weapons by state parties, and the creation of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). CTBTO is responsible for the checking procedures written into the treaty - the international monitoring system capable of detecting nuclear weapons explosions anywhere on earth, and upon the treaty's entry into force, carrying out national inspections at the request of state parties to the treaty.
180 countries have signed the CTBT and 148 countries are a party to the treaty, but in order for the CTBT to enter into force, all 44 Annex 2 nations of the CTBT must ratify the treaty. Annex 2 nations are nations that possessed nuclear power reactors or research reactors at that time of the CTBT negotiations from 1994 to 1996. Nine Annex 2 nations have yet to ratify the CTBT: China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea and the United States. U.S. ratification would send strong positive signals throughout the world and hopefully motivate U.S. friends, such as Egypt, to ratify the treaty. In order for the treaty to be ratified by the United States, it must pass through the Senate with 67 affirmative votes. Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, stated that an effort was underway to get the United States to ratify CTBT.
Ratifying the CTBT is unmistakably in the U.S. national security interest. According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, lawmakers can be confident that the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile will remain safe and reliable without explosive nuclear testing far into the foreseeable future. U.S. leadership on the CTBT will be crucial for gaining the international support that is needed to tackle other nonproliferation problems. It comes at a low cost, since the U.S. has been voluntarily complying with the provisions of the Treaty since 1992 and there is no political support for a return to explosive nuclear testing in the near future.
It is also in U.S. interests to push for full ratification of the treaty by all Annex 2 states, so the treaty may come into force and allow full verification methods to take place (i.e. the on-site inspection). While the International Monitoring System was successful in detecting the 2006 North Korean test, there is great concern in the scientific community about the potential inaccuracy of the system. It may be possible to accidentally confuse other man-made or seismic events as nuclear weapons explosions. The result could be a false accusation by or against the U.S. of nuclear testing. A complete and neutral international inspection regime would defuse those problems immediately.
As CTBT advocates work to provide senators with the best scientific evidence on the Treaty issues, the administration can send important signals to the international community by continuing to publicly convey its support for the Treaty.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
NPT Briefing Book
NPT Fact Sheet
During the early 1960's, President Kennedy and his successors reached out to other nations to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. This created a network of laws and diplomatic relations, including the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which convinced many countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Japan, South Africa, and South Korea to become non-nuclear states. The treaty entered into force in March 1970, the same month the U.S. ratified the treaty, and provides a framework to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and pursue nuclear disarmament. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. and the international community persuaded countries such as Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine that possessed nuclear weapons, to give up their nuclear weapons. Only 8 countries today have nuclear weapons. Of the 189 states that have ratified the treaty, five have nuclear weapons. The states fall under two categories:
a) Nuclear weapon states (NWS): which includes the United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom. They are required to commit to general and complete disarmament.
The Non-Proliferation Treaty is reviewed every five years in Review Conference Meetings. In 1995, at a Review Conference meeting, the States party to the treaty decided to extend the Review Conference indefinitely and without conditions. The three central components of the NPT are non-proliferation, disarmament and peaceful use of nuclear energy.
The three countries that have not signed onto the treaty are India, Pakistan, and Israel. India first tested an explosive nuclear device in 1974. India and Pakistan then conducted "tit-for-tat" nuclear tests in May 1998. Israel has not publicly conducted a nuclear test but has never admitted or denied possessing nuclear weapons. However, it is believed that Israel does posses nuclear weapons based on how much fissile material (highly enriched uranium and plutonium) the country is known to have produced. Fissile material is an essential component in the creation of nuclear weapons.
The two countries under immediate proliferation scrutiny are North Korea and Iran. North Korea withdrew from the treaty on January 10, 2003. There is no definite legal opinion whether the country is party to the NPT because it is debated whether North Korea provided the amount of time required to withdraw from the treaty. Iran is not known to posses any nuclear weapons or adequate fissile material to build any. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - the UN organization in charge of ensuring states do not build nuclear weapons illegally - concluded in 2003 that Iran had tried to establish the capacity to build fissile material. Iran's nuclear program is under continuing investigation by the IAEA.
Current US policy does not comply with its disarmament obligation. According to the 2002 Nuclear Posture Review, the US plans for maintenance of large and modernized nuclear forces for the indefinite future and for expansion of options for use of nuclear weapons. The Obama administration has agreed to crack down on nuclear proliferation by strengthening the NPT so that countries like North Korea and Iran that break the rules will automatically face strong international sanctions.
On Sept. 24, 2009, President Obama will chair a U.N. Security Council Meeting focusing on nuclear disarmament issues. On the meeting, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, had the following to say:
"This is an opportunity for the Council to give profile and impetus to efforts that are under way -- in some instances in a national or bilateral context, in other instances in a multilateral context -- as we proceed to the NPT review conference next year, so that the international community is saying from the body responsible for peace and security that we are united in support of effective steps to ensure nuclear nonproliferation and that we are committed to appropriate progress on nuclear disarmament."
Finding a Successor to START I START I at a Glance
START I Replacement
The START I treaty is a bilateral treaty proposed by President Ronald Reagan and initially signed with the former USSR. After the fall of the USSR, the treaty agreements were carried over to the new governments of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. As a result of the treaty, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine have gotten rid of all nuclear weapons. In 1991, the US and Russia successfully reached START I requirements of no more than 6,000 warheads. Since 1991, the treaty has allowed verification regimes to esnure that both sides are remaining in accordance with the treaty.
The two nations signed subsequent START treaties to further limit nuclear proliferation. However, if the START I treaty sunsets without a new treaty to replace it, the verification process will be shutdown.
What comes after START I?
In December 2009, the START I will expire. The Obama administration hopes to move beyond the START treaty language to adopt bolder steps to further nuclear proliferation. Vice-President Joe Biden spoke at the 45th annual Munich Security Conference, and outlined the Obama-Biden administration’s priorities on nuclear proliferation and the importance of the START treaty series:
Cooperate to secure loose nuclear weapons and materials and prevent their spread…renew the verification procedures in the [Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty] and then go beyond existing treaties to negotiate deeper cuts in our arsenals.
President Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia issued a joint statement on April 1st, 2009:
We agreed to pursue new and verifiable reductions in our strategic offensive arsenals in a step-by-step process, beginning by replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new, legally binding treaty. We are instructing our negotiators to start talks immediately on this new treaty and to report on results achieved in working out the new agreement by July," says a joint statement issued today by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
To read the full article accompanying this statement, click here.
Policy Suggestions:
Ratify CTBT: The May 2009 NPT PrepCom and the September 2009 Article XIV Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the CTBT offer timely opportunities for the U.S. to send positive messages about its intention to ratify the Treaty..
Update START I Treaty Mandates: The United States must extend the START I treaty in order to maintain current verification procedures that help maintain the current level of nuclear weapons.
Nukes in the News:
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Nuclear Non-Proliferation : August 4, 2009
North Korea Vows to Produce Nuclear Weapons : June 13, 2009 - After the United Nations Security Council voted to punish North Korea for its nuclear missile tests, the North Korean Foreign ministry issued a statement that it would move ahead in its production of nuclear weapons.
Iran Has Centrifuge Capacity for Nuclear Arms : June 5, 2009 - Atomic inspectors have reported that Iran has accelerated its production of nuclear energy to 7,200 centrifuges, which is enough to make two nuclear weapons per year.
More Links and Resources For more information, please contact Abigail Long, Programs Coordinator, at Citizens for Global Solutions, at 202-546-3950 x 105 or along[at]globalsolutions.org or Don Kraus, CEO, at Citizens for Global Solutions, dkraus[at]globalsolutions.org (202) 546-3950 x 103.
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major multi-lateral treaties shape U.S. policy on nuclear weapons: