Digests and Blog

(February 16, 2010, Washington, D.C.) Today, the nonpartisan research and policy advocacy organization Arms Control Association (ACA) released a new report detailing the case for U.S. ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The report, "Now More Than Ever: The Case for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty," is available for download here. "Our new report underscores the fact that there is no technical or military reason to resume U.S. nuclear weapons testing and advances in test ban monitoring make the treaty effectively verifiable," said Daryl G.…

Responding to the Jan. 20 WSJ op-ed, "How to Protect Our Nuclear Deterrent," by statesmen Shultz, Perry, Kissinger and Nunn, Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) claimed in a January 24th letter to the editor that the op-ed endorses "the recommendations of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the experts on the bipartisan Perry-Schlesinger Commission, who have urged significant and immediate funding to develop a modern warhead ..." In reality, neither the Shultz, Perry et al op-ed nor the Perry-Schlesinger Commission endorse what Kyl calls a "modern warhead," which is a euphemism for a newly-designed…

On February 1, the Obama administration proposed a 10 percent increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration's stockpile management programs. If approved, funding for the weapons complex including stockpile surveillance and warhead life extension programs would rise to just over $7 billion. The proposal would ensure funds for the agency to reach full production of the refurbished Navy W-76 Trident submarine warhead, to refurbish the B-61 bomb, and to study options for maintaining the W-78, the warhead in the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. The request would also…

In today's Deseret News, former Senator from Utah Jake Garn cites the changing nature of 21st century security threats and a growing bipartisan consensus in his call for U.S. ratification of the CTBT. He points out that many political and technical realities have changed since the Senate declined to approve the treaty in 1999, including significantly enhanced treaty verification and advances in stockpile stewardship programs that help to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal. He writes, "Today, we stand to gain more than any other nation from a global, verifiable ban on all nuclear weapons…

In today's edition of The Wall Street Journal, Vice-president Biden pens an op-ed entitled, "The President's Nuclear Vision," stating that the administration's fiscal year 2011 budget request to Congress will propose a $600 million increase in the National Nuclear Security Administration's nonproliferation and stockpile management programs budget (about 10% above current levels) and will seek an increase of approximately $5 billion over the next 5 years. He writes in part: "Our budget request is just one of several closely related and equally important initiatives giving life to the…

Native Iowan and Arms Control Association Senior Fellow Greg Thielmann outlines the nonproliferation and security benefits of U.S. ratification of the CTBT in a January 22, 2010 op-ed in The Des Moines Register. In order to contain Iran's nuclear program, the United States must pursue an effective "full court press" involving robust diplomacy, targeted international sanctions, and U.S. reconsideration and ratification of the CTBT, Thielmann argues. U.S. ratification will spur other Annex 2 countries to ratify, and increase international pressure on Iran, he writes. "The United States no…

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A prominent Catholic bishop and a Nobel laureate today called for a "step-by-step process to prevent the use and spread of [nuclear weapons]" in an Atlantic Journal Constitution op-ed, citing a consensus within the scientific and religious communities that nuclear weapons "are a global liability". Howard James Hubbard, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops and 1998 Nobel laureate in physics Leon Lederman argue that the CTBT will "include practical, verifiable steps that would make us more secure, prevent the spread of nuclear…

Indian newspaper The Hindu reported today that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated for the first time during his current administration that India may be amenable to signing onto the CTBT, once the United States and China ratify. Singh was probed by his Japanese counterpart, Yuki Hatoyama, during a meeting regarding nuclear energy cooperation between the two countries. Mr. Hatoyama, told reporters that he had emphasized Japan's desire for New Delhi to sign and ratify the treaty, remarking that, "Globally there is a rising momentum of [the CTBT] entering into force. I expressed…

On December 16, 2009, the lab directors from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory met with Vice President Joe Biden for a private briefing in the White House. Biden was tapped to be the Administration's point person for CTBT ratification efforts in early 2009. Biden and the lab directors were joined by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman, National Nuclear Security Administrator Tom D'Agostino, and officials from the State Department and the Department of Defense. A Los Alamos National Laboratory press…