Digests and Blog

As three days of voting near their conclusion, exit polls indicate that two nominees are currently leading the field in the hotly contest Arms Control Person(s) of the Year competition. Last year's winner, Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind), nominated this year for: ... his courageous and unflinching leadership for prompt Senate approval of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty despite months of partisan division in the Senate on the treaty. More info here and here. And NNSA Administrator Thomas D'Agostino, Kazakhstan's Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov, and their international…

By Farrah Zughni As the Senate commences floor debate on New START this week, the features in the December edition of Arms Control Today invite readers to look ahead to even broader efforts in reducing nuclear arsenals globally. In "Britain Leads the Way to Global Zero," Harold Smith and Raymond Jeanloz argue that the United Kingdom's nuclear arsenal reductions offer a blueprint for the United States and Russia as they move to further reduce their own stockpiles. According to Smith and Jeanloz, the British approach makes an implicit statement about the kind of deterrence that nuclear…

By Tom Z. Collina and Daryl G. Kimball In a desperate last-ditch effort to derail a likely Senate vote on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), a smattering of treaty opponents led by the controversial Center for Security Policy issued a letter today to Senate leaders attacking the very idea of verifiable limits on Russian and U.S. strategic arsenals. Rather than showing opposition strength, the letter is a sign of the strength of New START ratification efforts and the opposition's willingness to twist the facts regarding the treaty. First, the list of former officials critical…

A recognized global leader in both arms trade and export control, the United States has committed to seeking a robust international arms trade treaty. Washington is undertaking this effort in part to raise global norms for the trade in conventional weapons. At the same time, the administration is moving forward with a comprehensive review of its own export control system that may lower U.S. standards. It's difficult to advocate for states to raise their own practices while appearing to weaken one's own. An Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to Bring the World Up In deciding last year to break with the…

By Daryl G. Kimball Leaders of key organizations working to sustain momentum for approval of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty wrote the Senate Democratic leadership earlier this evening demanding that the Senate immediately turn its attention to the treaty. This call is being backed up by a substantial, nationwide grassroots and Washington-based lobbying effort. These organizations, which represent millions of Americans, are among the very large, diverse, bipartisan coalition of national security, arms control, religious, scientific, and environmental organizations that support…

By Farrah Zughni Arms Control Today, ACA's monthly magazine, goes beyond the news headlines to identify policy problems with and solutions to risks posed by the world's most dangerous weapons. Check out the three most popular news articles from our December issue: Oliver Meier's piece on NATO's revised nuclear policy sheds light on just how different NATO members think about the alliance's nuclear weapons and on the back-room negotiations that produced the new Strategic Concept at its recent Lisbon summit. During a November 12 visit to North Korea's Yongbyon facility, U.S. experts…

By Rob Golan-Vilella This morning, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined the growing chorus of voices calling for the New START treaty to be ratified. Dr. Rice is the sixth Republican former Secretary of State to support the treaty, coming on the heels of last week's endorsement from Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger, and Colin Powell in The Washington Post. Dr. Rice correctly notes in arguing for the treaty that: The treaty is modest, reducing offensive nuclear weapons to 1,550 on each side—more than enough for…

By Jeff Abramson The Arms Control Association seeks nominations for its annual Arms Control Person(s) of the Year competition. Past winners include: Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) (2009), Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and his ministry's Director-General for Security Policy and the High North Steffen Kongstad (2008), and U.S. Congressmen Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) and David Hobson (R-Ohio) (2007). In a year that featured the signing of a new strategic arms treaty, entry into force of a major conventional arms treaty, an unprecedented nuclear security summit, consensus at the NPT…

By Daryl G. Kimball Once-upon-a-time presidential candidate, Mitt Romney has once again urged the Senate to "Stop New START." Once again he shows he's getting some bad advice. Romney's latest column in The Boston Globe is full of misrepresentations, factual errors, and it ignores the very obvious benefits of re-establishing verifiable limits on Russia's strategic nuclear arsenal. As a public service, here is a reality-check on Mr. Romney's assertions. You can find more in our New START guide, "The Case for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty," available online here: http://www.armscontrol…

By Alfred Nurja As the U.S. and others prepare to restart negotiations with Iran this Monday, the Wikileaks revelations on the alleged bellicosity of Arab views toward Iran provide some interesting insights about the viability of the current international strategy for resolving the Iranian nuclear puzzle. (Marc Lynch provided some useful context this week - see here and here - on what to make of these revelations.) The international community has been pursuing a dual track strategy of sanctions and engagement with Iran ever since the IAEA first reported Iran's nuclear file to the UN Security…