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“Right after I graduated, I interned with the Arms Control Association. It was terrific.”

– George Stephanopolous
ABC News
January 1, 2005
Kathy Crandall Robinson

Moving the World Back from the Nuclear Brink

This past year, we have been reminded that the nuclear weapons threat still hangs over all of us. Nuclear competition is accelerating. The risk of military confrontation between the nuclear-armed states is rising. Nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament diplomacy is currently stalled. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats in the context of Russia’s illegal and brutal war on Ukraine underscore the growing dangers of nuclear war, the risks of nuclear deterrence-based strategies, and the unfinished business that lies ahead. Our collective actions today, as citizens, organizations,...

The Prospect of Nuclear Armageddon 

Inside the Arms Control Association November 2022 On September 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued another round of thinly veiled nuclear threats in the context of his ongoing military assault on the people of Ukraine. On October 6, President Biden called the “prospect of Armageddon'' the highest since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The President is justifiably alarmed and people in the United States and around the globe are far more aware and concerned about the risk of nuclear war. In response, our Arms Control Association team has been working overtime. In the face of global...

50 Years of Bilateral Nuclear Arms Control and Much More to Be Done

Inside the Arms Control Association September 2022 Five decades ago, the first bilateral nuclear arms control agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union were concluded: the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and the Interim Agreement on Strategic Arms Limitations (SALT), the latter being approved by a joint Congressional resolution and signed by President Richard Nixon in September 1972. “This is not an agreement which guarantees that there will be no war,” Nixon said. “But it is the beginning of a process that is enormously important, that will limit now and, we hope, later...

An Opening for Renewed Disarmament Diplomacy

Inside the Arms Control Association August 2022 Russia's ongoing, large-scale war on Ukraine has not only increased human suffering and reminded the world of the risks of nuclear weapons, nuclear threats, and nuclear deterrence, but it has also derailed talks that could lead to new arrangements to maintain verifiable caps, or perhaps reduce, the world’s largest nuclear arsenals–until, perhaps, now. Building on his letter to the Arms Control Association on June 2, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a statement Aug. 1 at the start of the 10th NPT Review Conference in which he declared: "Even at...

Nuclear Threats and the Dangers of Deterrence

Inside the Arms Control Association July 2022 President Vladimir Putin’s threats of the possible use of nuclear weapons against any state that might interfere with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have reawakened the world to the dangers of nuclear war. The possibility of military conflict between Russian and NATO forces has significantly increased the risk of nuclear weapons use. Recent public opinion polling indicates that 80 percent of Americans are concerned that the war will expand and Russia will use nuclear weapons. I was honored to be invited by the Austrian government to speak last month...

Reinforcing Nuclear Taboos and Jumpstarting Disarmament Diplomacy

Inside the Arms Control Association June 2022 At our June 2, 2022, Arms Control Association Annual Meeting , our all-star array of panelists and speakers, along with video messages from special guests, underscored the enduring value of persistent smart civil society efforts to deliver information, solutions, and pressure on policymakers to reduce and eventually eliminate the existential threats posed by nuclear weapons. More than 140 friends and members attended the meeting, which was held at the National Press Club, and more than 400 viewed the live webcast. Our discussions made it clear...

Growing Nuclear Danger Represents A Call to Action

Inside the Arms Control Association May 2022 Over the long course of the nuclear age, millions of people around the world have stood up to demand meaningful action to reduce and eliminate the threats posed by nuclear weapons. Civil society pressure in the United States has informed, influenced, and catalyzed action by successive presidential administrations to conclude agreements to slash nuclear stockpiles, halt nuclear testing, and reduce the risk of nuclear war. Since 1972, the Arms Control Association has been in the middle of these efforts. Fifty years ago this week, the first of many...

Five Decades On, Our Work Is Not Done

Inside the Arms Control Association April 2022 Fifty years ago, on May 26, 1972, the first bilateral nuclear arms control agreements were struck: the U.S.-Soviet Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. That breakthrough followed the entry into force of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1970. At the same time, the Arms Control Association was established as a project of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, becoming an independent, nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization in 1972. As the first ACA Newsletter from April 1972 notes, the...

Putin’s Assault on Ukraine and Threat of a Wider War

President Vladimir Putin has chosen the path of destruction instead of diplomacy. The Kremlin’s war on Ukrainian cities, towns, nuclear power stations, hospitals, and civilians is indefensible, illegal, premeditated, and heartbreaking. Making matters worse, Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling is raising the risk of escalation in ways we have not seen since the end of the Cold War. If NATO and Russian military forces become entangled in the fight, the war could widen further and could potentially move to the nuclear level–with catastrophic consequences. Since Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, our...

The Role of Arms Control in U.S.-Russian Relations

Inside the Arms Control Association February 2022 The Role of Arms Control in U.S.-Russian Relations The ongoing major Russian military buildup around Ukraine creates the potential for a catastrophic war that can and must be avoided through serious and deft diplomacy. Among the many factors that have led us to this point is the breakdown of important conventional and nuclear arms control agreements that helped bring an end to the first Cold War. These crucial guardrails, including the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, the Open Skies Treaty , the ABM Treaty , and the INF Treaty , are no...

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