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"I want to tell you that your fact sheet on the [Missile Technology Control Regime] is very well done and useful for me when I have to speak on MTCR issues."

– Amb. Thomas Hajnoczi

Chair, MTCR

May 19, 2021

Arms Control NOW

Fifty Years Ago, the First Strategic Arms Limitation Agreements Were Concluded

Authored by Daryl G. Kimball on May 25, 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. The breakthrough agreements, which began the process of slowing the nuclear arms race, followed the entry into force of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1970. The U.S.-Soviet agreements were the product of intensive negotiations that began in 1969. The chief American negotiator was Gerard Smith, who had been appointed the director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency by then-president Richard...

Growing Nuclear Danger Represents A Call to Action

Authored by Daryl Kimball, Kathy Crandall Robinson, Tony Fleming on May 23, 2022

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...

EU Attempts To Save Iran Negotiations

Authored by Kelsey Davenport on May 20, 2022

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed optimism that talks to restore the 2015 nuclear deal would resume after the EU’s lead negotiator Enrique Mora traveled to Tehran in an attempt to get negotiations back on track. Borrell said May 13 that Mora’s trip was “positive enough” to relaunch talks to bring the United States and Iran back into compliance with the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The EU continues to act as an intermediary between the United States and Iran, which are not negotiating directly to restore the JCPOA. Before the...

Tuvalu and Gambia Ratify the CTBT

Authored by Gabriela Rosa on April 28, 2022

T hus far in this year, Tuvalu and Gambia have ratified the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), bringing the total number of countries who have both signed and ratified the treaty to 172. Honorary Prime Minister of Tuvalu Kausea Matano signed the instrument of ratification for the CTBT on January 24, and the accomplishment was officially marked in a ceremony on March 31 at the United Nations in New York City. Tuvalu signed the CTBT in September 2018. “Our Pacific region has suffered from the effects of decades of nuclear testing,” said Tuvaluan Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Kofe By...

Five Decades On, Our Work Is Not Done

Authored by Daryl Kimball, Kathy Crandall Robinson, and Tony Fleming on April 27, 2022

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

Authored by Daryl Kimball and Kathy Crandall Robinson on March 18, 2022

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...

How to avoid nuclear catastrophe—and a costly new arms race

Authored by Daryl G. Kimball on March 11, 2022

If Russian President Vladimir Putin’s premeditated, illegal attack on Ukrainian cities, towns, nuclear power stations, hospitals, and civilians wasn’t shocking enough, his recent nuclear saber-rattling is a crude reminder that the risk of nuclear war still looms. To respond effectively, those looking for a safer, saner world must rethink the nuclear deterrence policies and practices that have led the nuclear weapons countries to this point and push them toward new approaches and policies that move the world away from nuclear catastrophe. “Western countries aren’t only taking unfriendly...

IAEA Report Demonstrates Urgent Need to Restore JCPOA

Authored by Julia Masterson on March 4, 2022

(UPDATED March 5) As the fate of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal hangs in balance, a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reveals that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile continues to expand. According to that report, "Verification and monitoring in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 (2015), GOV/2022/4, March 3, 2022," Iran is now closer than ever to having enough highly enriched uranium-235 that, when further enriched, would be enough for a nuclear bomb. The deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (...

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

Authored by Daryl Kimball, Kathy Crandall Robinson, and Tony Fleming on February 7, 2022

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...

The US-Russia Crisis Over Ukraine: All Options Should Not Be On the Table

Authored by Daryl G. Kimball and Ira Helfand on January 22, 2022

Following the inconclusive round of high-stakes talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials on nuclear arms control, European security, and the crisis in Ukraine last week, a journalist asked National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Jan. 13, “Are all options on the table?” Sullivan replied that if Russia further invaded Ukraine, options that would be employed include severe sanctions on Russia and military aid for Ukraine, as well as “changes in the forces and capabilities that the United States and NATO would deploy to eastern flank allies to reinforce and strengthen the robustness of...