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Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)

  • Learning From the 1999 Vote on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
    Arms Control Today
    October 5, 2009

    When President Bill Clinton described the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as “the longest-sought, hardest fought prize in arms control history,” he was not exaggerating. In the face of international outrage over their rapid-fire pace of Cold War testing, U.S. and Soviet leaders attempted in 1958-1959 and again in 1963 to negotiate a comprehensive ban on all nuclear test explosions. They came close but were unable to agree on the details for inspections and had to settle for the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited atmospheric testing. The United States, Russia, and other states conducted hundreds more nuclear tests underground, which enabled further arms racing and proliferation.
  • MEDIA ADVISORY: Arms Control Experts Applaud Security Council Resolution Toward a "World Without Nuclear Weapons"
    Press Room
    September 24, 2009

    Experts from the independent Arms Control Association (ACA) characterized today's unanimous adoption of a UN Security Council resolution on nonproliferation and disarmament as "an important step toward rebuilding international consensus around a balanced action plan to reduce and eliminate the nuclear weapons threat." (Continue)
  • Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Remarks at CTBT Article XIV Conference
    About ACA
    September 24, 2009

    Thank you for your warm welcome. I am delighted to be here on behalf of the United States. It has been a long time since our government was represented at this conference. We are glad to be back. (Continue)
  • Accelerating the Entry Into Force of the CTBT: Now is the Time
    Press Room
    September 23, 2009

    The history of the nuclear age makes clear that opportunities to reduce the grave dangers posed by nuclear weapons are often fleeting. When the right political conditions are in place, government leaders must seize the chance to make progress. (Continue)
  • MEDIA ADVISORY: Nongovernmental Experts Urge Action on Nuclear Weapons Test Ban Treaty
    Press Room
    September 23, 2009

    A diverse set of nongovernmental nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament leaders, as well as former government officials and diplomats are urging key governments to ratify the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and bring it into force. (Continue)
  • Building Up the Regime for Verifying the CTBT
    Arms Control Today
    September 3, 2009

    Over the last decade, considerable progress has been made in building up the unique verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) to monitor the globe for nuclear explosions. (Continue)
  • The New Nuclear Agenda: The Obama Administration and Arms Control
    ACA Events
    August 14, 2009

    Remarks of Tom Z. Collina, Research Director. Confronting Global WMD Threats Conference sponsored by US Air Force, USAF Counterproliferation Center, Defense Threat Reduction Agency
  • Toward a Nuclear Freeze in South Asia
    Arms Control Today
    July 2, 2009

    Ten years ago this month, tens of thousands of Indian and Pakistani soldiers faced off in a confrontation over the disputed Kashmir region. If not for intensive U.S.-led crisis diplomacy, that standoff and another in 2002 could have led to war between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

    Since then, Indian and Pakistani nuclear and missile stockpiles have grown even larger, and the underlying conditions for conflict still persist. Indian military planners foolishly believe they can engage in and win a limited conventional conflict without triggering a nuclear exchange even though the Pakistani army's strategy relies on nuclear weapons to offset India's overwhelming conventional superiority. (Continue)
  • Obama Shifts U.S. Stance on CTBTO Funding
    Arms Control Today
    June 4, 2009

    The Obama administration's fiscal year 2010 budget request for the Department of State includes $26 million for the U.S. contribution to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the first request to meet or exceed the CTBTO's assessed contribution since the Clinton administration. (Continue)
  • Kimball and Rademaker Debate the CTBT at CSIS
    ACA Events
    May 14, 2009

    ACA Executive Director Daryl Kimball and Former Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Rademaker debate the merits of ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty at the Center for Strategic and International Studies