Press Room

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced today that it plans to hold a vote on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty on September 15 or 16, which would open the way for a vote by the full Senate this fall.

Next week, representative from more than 100 countries will gather at the United Nations in New York City for preparatory committee meetings on a legally binding international arms trade treaty (ATT). In a special section “Getting a Handle on the Arms Trade” in the July/August edition of Arms Control Today, experts analyze the difficulty of monitoring transfers of conventional weapons and provide recommendations for creating a strong international instrument.

In the following Focus editorial in the July/August issue of Arms Control Today, Daryl G. Kimball notes that the NSG has provided an important check on proliferation. But in recent years, he writes, the NSG has not only failed to agree to tighter restrictions on the transfer of uranium-enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing technology, but to their great discredit a few leading NSG states have reversed or ignored NSG guidelines for commercial profit and improved bilateral ties with nuclear trading partners.

In a letter sent this week to the 46-member states of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a prestigious and broad array of more than 40 experts and nongovernmental organizations from 14 countries urged that these nations "reiterate to the Chinese government that it must not engage in nuclear trade with Pakistan in a way that violates nonproliferation obligations and norms."

Statement by ACA Executive Director Daryl G. Kimball on the 2010 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference and consensus final document.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee formally begins consideration today of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) following its official submission to the Senate last week for advice and consent. President Obama has called for the treaty to be approved before the November elections; a busy Senate schedule makes the actual timing unclear.

Experts at the Arms Control Association welcomed the pending delivery of letters signed by 68 Senators, as well as additional members of the House of Representatives, to President Obama supporting review of U.S. landmines policy and eventual accession to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.

President Obama's new nuclear policy reduces the role of U.S. nuclear weapons in the country's security strategy and moves the United States and Russia toward a more stable strategic relationship with each side having lower levels of nuclear arms.

ACA experts are available to provide analysis and commentary on two major events on nuclear weapons policy this week:  the release of the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) in Washington and the signing of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) on April 8 in Prague.