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"[Arms Control Today] has become indispensable! I think it is the combination of the critical period we are in and the quality of the product. I found myself reading the May issue from cover to cover."

– Frank von Hippel

Co-Director of Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University

Arms Control NOW

The Perils of Space-Based Missile Defense Interception

Authored by Ryan Fedasiuk and Kingston Reif on March 20, 2018

Past U.S. efforts to develop and deploy a space-based missile defense have known many names, including "Strategic Defense Initiative,” “Brilliant Pebbles,” and “Global Protection Against Limited Strikes.” And all have suffered the same fate: cancellation due to insurmountable financial, technical, and strategic obstacles. But like a zombie that can’t be killed, the idea keeps coming back. Senator Ted Cruz wrote a letter Feb. 22 calling for a space-based capability to intercept ballistic missiles (SBI) in “boost phase,” when a missile is “traveling its slowest, emitting its clearest heat...

Putin’s Irresponsible Nuclear Boasts

Authored by Daryl G. Kimball on March 1, 2018

In a March 1 pre-election speech to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted about Russia’s pursuit of several nuclear weapons systems, some that have already been tested as well as some new capabilities: Putin cited the “Sarmat’ heavy intercontinental missile, which can carry nuclear and hypersonic munitions, which has been undergoing developmental testing. Putin said Russia is developing a type of cruise missile with nuclear propulsion that has an unlimited range that “is invincible against all existing and prospective missile defense and counter-air defense systems.”...

African American Leadership in the Fight for Nuclear Disarmament

Authored by Vincent Intondi on February 25, 2018

Since Donald Trump became president, many of us in the disarmament community have warned about Trump’s desire to use nuclear weapons. We have witnessed Trump threaten the destruction of North Korea, express a desire to resume nuclear testing, and recommend other countries develop their own nuclear arsenals. The fear of Trump starting a nuclear war only got worse with the release of his new security strategy, Nuclear Posture Review, and budget in which the administration called for more money to be spent on nuclear weapons, while the U.S. “ broaden its use of nuclear weapons ” to include using...

The P5+1 and Iran Nuclear Deal Alert, February 5, 2017

Authored by Kelsey Davenport on February 5, 2018

P5+1, Congress Respond to Trump’s Demands to Change the Iran Nuclear Deal Officials from the United States and the E3 (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) gathered Jan. 25 in London for a working group meeting to discuss the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and Iran’s ballistic missile program. The meeting came after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed sanctions waivers required to keep the United States in compliance with the accord Jan. 12, but threatened to withhold the next round of waivers, due May 12, if Congress and...

Final vs. Draft of the Nuclear Posture Review: What Was Changed?

Authored by Alicia Sanders-Zakre on February 5, 2018

On Friday, Feb. 2, the Trump administration officially unveiled its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) . Huffington Post leaked an earlier version of the document on Jan. 11. The Arms Control Association team reviewed both versions of the NPR and marked up a copy of the final NPR with all changes from the leaked version. (See our annotated version here .)* The final Feb. 2 document includes revised language and new charts on Russian nuclear doctrine, as well as new language on the proposed submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM) and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. It also...

Why Dr. King Opposed the Atomic Bomb

Authored by Vincent Intondi on January 14, 2018

On February 6, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stepped up to the pulpit to warn against the use of nuclear weapons. Addressing the second mobilization of the Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, King urged an end to the war, and warned that if the United States used nuclear weapons in Vietnam the earth would be transformed into an inferno that "even the mind of Dante could not envision." Then, as he had done so many times before, King made clear the connection between the black freedom struggle in America and the need for nuclear disarmament: These two issues are tied together in...

Reducing Nuclear Dangers in 2018

Authored by Daryl G. Kimball on December 29, 2017

It's been a tumultuous year, and your support has made an enormous difference to the work of the Arms Control Association. In 2018, you can count on us to continue advancing common sense solutions to today's nuclear challenges. We hope you will keep us in your giving plans as you make your final end-of-year contributions . Your donation—whether its $25, $100, $250, or more—really makes a difference. Through our one-of-a-kind journal, Arms Control Today , plus our policy briefings, reports, and outreach programs for the public, the press, and policy-makers, your contributions give us an impact...

The P5+1 and Iran Nuclear Deal Alert, December 11, 2017

Authored by Kelsey Davenport on December 11, 2017

Tillerson, Mogherini Meet Ahead of Key JCPOA Deadlines EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini reiterated to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the EU would work with the United States to address shared issues related to Iran, “on the basis of continued U.S. implementation of the nuclear deal” and outside of the agreement itself. Mogherini and Tillerson discussed the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) during a Dec. 5 bilateral meeting in Brussels. Mogherini reaffirmed the EU’s position that continued...

Hiroshima Survivor Setsuko Thurlow Shares Her Wisdom with the Next Generation

Authored by Daryl G. Kimball and Alicia Sanders-Zakre on December 6, 2017

(Updated from original version published July 6, 2017) One of the catalytic forces behind the pursuit and conclusion of the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in recent years has been the voices of the hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the people across the globe who have been adversely affected by more than seven decades of nuclear weapons production and testing. The preamble of the new prohibition treaty, which was opened for signature at UN headquarters in New York on September 20, notes “the unacceptable...

ACT Preview: Pope Francis Condemns Possession of Nuclear Weapons

Authored by Kelsey Davenport on November 15, 2017

(Reporting from Rome) Pope Francis firmly condemned the possession of nuclear weapons for the first time at a Vatican conference on disarmament, a significant move that extends the Roman Catholic Church’s position on the immorality of nuclear weapons. The Nov. 10-11 conference was hosted by the Holy See’s Dicastery for Integral Human Development to discuss the steps toward a world without nuclear weapons. Cardinal Peter Turkson, the head of the dicastery, warned of the “increasing drumbeat of a possible nuclear conflagration” and said that a candid conversation is urgently needed on how to...