Blogs | Arms Control Association

Login/Logout

"In my home there are few publications that we actually get hard copies of, but [Arms Control Today] is one and it's the only one my husband and I fight over who gets to read it first."

– Suzanne DiMaggio

Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

April 15, 2019

Arms Control NOW

Looking Ahead 2020: Arms Trade Issues Should See Center Stage in the U.S. Election

Authored by Jeff Abramson on December 16, 2019

A version of this post was the first of a series of short blog posts , to be published by the ACA's Forum on the Arms Trade, which will feature perspectives from Forum experts on weapons use, the arms trade, and security assistance in 2020. The "should" in the title to this post is not an admonition, but rather a prediction. And a bold one. An impeachment effort is now underway related to conditions placed on security assistance to Ukraine. Plus, four Presidential vetoes were used in 2019: one to stop Congressional assertion of war powers in relation to the war in Yemen, and three to override...

North Korea, United States Issue Threats as Deadline Approaches

Authored by Julia Masterson and Kelsey Davenport on December 11, 2019

North Korea, United States Issue Threats as Deadline Approaches The window for negotiations between the United States and North Korea appears to be closing, as both sides are resorting to threats ahead of the end-of-the-year deadline for progress imposed by Pyongyang in April. North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Ri Thae Song cautioned Dec. 2 that “what is left to be done now is the U.S. option and it is entirely up to the U.S. what Christmas gift it will get,” likely referring to North Korea’s willingness to continue diplomacy if the Trump administration changes its approach to talks or the...

Fifty Years Ago, the First Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Began

Authored by Daryl G. Kimball on November 17, 2019

Fifty years ago, on Nov. 17, 1969, the United States and the Soviet Union launched the first-ever Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) in Helsinki, Finland. 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 Nixon. Smith’s opening message that day: “The limitation of strategic arms is in the mutual interests of our country and the Soviet Union.” Negotiated in the midst of severe tensions, the SALT agreement and the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty were the first restrictions on the...

U.S.-Russian Nuclear Arms Control Watch, Nov. 15, 2019

Authored by Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos on November 15, 2019

Moscow Expresses Frustration About U.S. Stance on New START Top Russian Foreign Ministry officials have issued a fresh set of warnings about the future of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) because, they say, the Trump administration continues to refuse to engage in talks on extending the treaty. Washington “is evading any serious discussion, making public discouraging signals regarding the future of this treaty,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Nov. 8 at a nonproliferation conference in Moscow. Lavrov’s deputy, Sergey Ryabkov, voiced similar criticisms at the...

New IAEA Report Details Iran’s Retaliatory Moves | P4+1 and Iran Nuclear Deal Alert EXTRA

Authored by Kelsey Davenport on November 13, 2019

The Nov. 11 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran’s implementation of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal confirms that Tehran resumed enrichment at its Fordow site under agency monitoring and is accelerating its production of low-enriched uranium. Iran’s frustration with the reimposition of U.S. sanctions in violation of the deal is understandable, but its most recent breach at Fordow is a very serious escalation that increases the risk that the nuclear agreement will collapse. Like Iran’s three prior breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive...

Select Statements of Support for New START

Authored by Shannon Bugos on November 13, 2019

Updated September 2020 The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ( New START ), which entered into force in 2011, will expire on February 5, 2021, unless the U.S. and Russian presidents decide to extend the treaty by up to five years. New START is the latest in a series of agreements negotiated by Republican and Democratic presidents that verifiably limit and reduce the U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals. Under the treaty’s terms, the U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals are limited to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads; 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (...

Iran Announces New Nuclear Violation | P4+1 and Iran Nuclear Deal Alert

Authored by Kelsey Davenport and Julia Masterson on November 7, 2019

Iran Announces New Nuclear Violation President Hassan Rouhani directed the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) to introduce uranium gas into centrifuges installed at the Fordow facility on Nov. 6, violating the prohibition on enrichment activities at the site put in place by the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran’s decision to begin enriching uranium at Fordow under international supervision is a serious breach of the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). While the step does not pose a near-term proliferation threat, it risks eroding European support and...

A Message from the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Authored by Mayor Matsui Kazumi and Mayor Taue Tomihisa on November 1, 2019

This year, on August 6 and August 9, the world will mark 75 years since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As survivors of the bombing, the hibakusha , decrease in number, listening to them grows ever more crucial. As a human family, we must not forget the tragedy of those two cities. Instead, we must ensure that future generations know the devastation wrought by nuclear weapons and are inspired to act to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons. Now is the time for civil society and world leaders to renew our resolve to ensure the deep humanitarian conviction of the hibakusha that...

Our Place in the Universe and Nuclear Weapons: Reflections from a Nuclear Arms Control Negotiator

Authored by Roland Timerbaev on October 28, 2019

EDITOR’S NOTE: Amb. Roland Timerbaev passed away in mid-August at the age of 91. Timerbaev was a member of the Soviet/Russian diplomatic service for 43 years, with his final posting as permanent representative of the Soviet Union/Russia to international organizations in Vienna from 1988 to 1992. He also participated in negotiations on the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the 1973 Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War, the 1974 Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests, and the 1976 Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty. Timerbaev was one of the central figures in the...

Nuclear Storm Warnings

Authored by Daryl Kimball, Elana Simon, and Tony Fleming on October 24, 2019

It’s hurricane season for arms control. In August, the United States withdrew from the landmark 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that had eliminated 2,692 nuclear-armed missiles and helped end the Cold War. The demise of the INF opens the door to a new intermediate-range missile race in Europe. In the aftermath, we are pushing key states to pursue new restraints on this very destabilizing class of weapons. Reports out this month indicate the Trump Administration may be also poised to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty as soon as the end of October. The treaty has 34 state...