Digests and Blog

The Trump administration’s May 20 announcement of a three-year, $175 billion effort to build a constellation of space-based interceptors to attempt to counter any kind of missile from any nation within three years, popularized as the “Golden Dome” missile defense system, has been met with widespread skepticism bordering on incredulity.Indeed, The Guardian reported May 30 that “two people familiar” with the Golden Dome announcement concede that the space-based interceptor program will only be able to conduct a demonstration under ideal conditions by 2028. In this piece, we will examine some of…

In a comprehensive assessment of Iran’s safeguards implementation, the International Atomic Energy Agency presents clear evidence that Iran violated its safeguards obligations but finds no evidence of a current, illicit nuclear program. The IAEA’s findings underscore the urgent need for a nuclear deal that brings Iran back into compliance with its legally binding safeguards obligations and limits its future proliferation risk. The May 31 report, requested by the Agency’s Board of Governors in November 2024, provides greater context and information about the years-long investigation into four…

The third nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee (NPT PrepCom) meeting before the 2026 Review Conference took place April 28 to May 9 in New York.As delegates exchanged statements in the main plenary and tried (unsuccessfully) to reach agreement on options to enhance the review process and actions to advance NPT goals and objectives, over fifty side events were convened by civil society groups, states-parties, and international organizations, covering a wide range of issues. The Arms Control Association’s staff at the PrepCom attended several of these events during the first…

May 23, 2025Talks About Future of New START Still Haven’t StartedIn January, shortly after his second inauguration, U.S. President Donald Trump said: “Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about .... So, we want to see if we can denuclearize, and I think that’s very possible.”The Kremlin replied that it wants to resume the nuclear dialogue “as soon as possible.”Months later, however, Russia and the United States are no closer to addressing the urgent need for a follow-on agreement to the New…

Nuclear and defense strategists have long understood that the development and deployment of strategic missile interceptors is ineffective against determined nuclear-armed adversaries because it could lead them to build more numerous and sophisticated offensive missile systems — at relatively lower cost and more quickly -- to overwhelm and evade missile defenses.Trump’s “Golden Dome” gambit flies in the face of these realities. Beyond the hoopla and hyperbole of “nearly 100 percent protection” within “three years," Trump’s “Golden Dome” strategic missile defense gambit is deeply flawed,…

The United States and Iran described the first three rounds of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program as constructive, but comments from Washington and Tehran suggest that key differences remain ahead of the fourth round of talks. Since President Donald Trump announced on April 7 that the United States and Iran agreed to begin talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met three times. The third round of negotiations in Oman on April 26 included technical-level talks between the two sides. Araghchi described the third meeting as “…

April 2025For decades, U.S. global leadership – at the governmental and nongovernmental level – has been a driving force behind the effort to develop and implement a global system designed to control the dangers posed by nuclear weapons.Much of the U.S. government’s work on arms control has relied on a relatively small but key cadre of experts and practitioners at the State Department, parts of the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, parts of the intelligence community, and other key agencies. For example, President John F. Kennedy established the semi-independent Arms Control and Disarmament…

Nuclear Disarmament MonitorMarch 20, 2025U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a two-hour call on March 18 on the war in Ukraine, reaching a limited agreement to stop attacks on electrical infrastructure. The Kremlin mentioned in its readout of the call that the two sides had discussed cooperation on nuclear nonproliferation, while the U.S. statement said the presidents addressed “the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons.”What is not yet clear is whether the two presidents have begun to discuss ideas regarding how to manage the U.S.-Russian nuclear…

March 2025Ten years ago, the United States, along with China, France, Germany, Russia, and the UK, negotiated one of the most far-reaching, complex and consequential nonproliferation agreements: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The 2015 Iran Deal put in place limits on Iran’s nuclear program and intrusive international monitoring that ensured it would take more than a year to amass enough bomb grade material for just one bomb.ACA’s director for nonproliferation policy, Kelsey Davenport, monitored the talks, we contributed ideas, and we provided detailed information and analysis…

It has been barely a month since Inauguration day, but it is apparent that Donald Trump is determined to reshape U.S. foreign policy, radically alter alliance relationships, and upend Washington’s approach toward key adversaries, like Russia, in ways that are not yet clear.And here at home, Trump's brash assertion of executive power is putting our nation’s democratic institutions and the rule of domestic law at risk, in part by altering or dismantling key government departments,agencies and functions, all without congressional approval.All of this makes our mission to provide reliable…