Published Op-eds | Arms Control Association

Login/Logout

"I find hope in the work of long-established groups such as the Arms Control Association...[and] I find hope in younger anti-nuclear activists and the movement around the world to formally ban the bomb."

– Vincent Intondi

Professor of History, Montgomery College

July 1, 2020

Published Op-eds

The opinion pieces and editorials below are those authored by Arms Control Association staff and leadership published in major U.S. and international media.

We Must Prevent a New Nuclear Arms Race

Authored by Daryl G. Kimball and Frank von Hippel on March 1, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calamitous invasion of Ukraine has killed at least tens of thousands, displaced millions, and disrupted countless lives around the globe. Putin’s implied threats to use nuclear weapons against any who would interfere, have also raised fears of a nuclear conflict in ways not seen since the end of the cold war. Now, Putin is backing away from the last remaining bilateral treaty capping Russian and U.S. nuclear arsenals, the world’s two largest . The decision could open the door to an unconstrained, destabilizing and dangerous global arms race involving Russia...

Arming Ukraine and how to mitigate risks of illicit diversion of weapons and conflict escalation: a US perspective

Authored by Gabriela Iveliz Rosa Hernádez on December 1, 2022

Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has committed over $22 billion in security assistance to Ukraine in less than a year. The United States and its allies have rushed to provide Ukraine with the capability to defend itself, retake its territory from Russian forces, and secure it. Entering the 10 month of a war of attrition, there is little to suggest that Russia will cease attacking Ukraine or that either side will seek a negotiated settlement in the near future. As a result, the Biden administration and allied governments will likely continue to...

Biden and Xi Skirt the Abyss

Authored by Michael T. Klare on November 17, 2022

Admittedly, expectations for the November 4 meeting between Presidents Biden of the United States and Xi of China were not particularly high, so no one should be surprised that little of real substance emerged from their encounter in Bali, Indonesia. Both leaders laid out their concerns about the other side’s behavior while promising to contain their mutual antagonisms at a level below that of armed conflict. They also agreed to increase high-level contacts—Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Beijing early next year as part of this process—and to resume formal talks over climate...

Despite challenges, US-Russian nuclear arms control has its benefits

Authored by Shannon Bugos on November 9, 2022

Securing a new US-Russian nuclear arms control arrangement that can supersede the current treaty has been an endeavor that has stood on shaky, fractured ground for years, with Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine earlier this year making the future for nuclear arms control and disarmament all the more uncertain. But there yet remains a sliver of opportunity for the two countries to agree to a new arms control framework that would help ensure that the possibility of an outbreak of nuclear war, whether intentional or inadvertent, is minimized. In early 2021, US President Joe Biden and Russian...

Ukraine isn't the world's only nuclear flashpoint: Taiwan crisis is getting ugly

Authored by Michael T. Klare on October 16, 2022

Thanks to Vladimir Putin's recent implicit threat to employ nuclear weapons if the U.S. and its NATO allies continue to arm Ukraine — "This is not a bluff," he insisted on Sept. 21 — the perils in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict once again hit the headlines. And it's entirely possible, as ever more powerful U.S. weapons pour into Ukraine and Russian forces suffer yet more defeats , that the Russian president might indeed believe that the season for threats is ending and only the detonation of a nuclear weapon will convince the Western powers to back off. If so, the war in Ukraine could prove...

Keeping an eye on the prize: divisive US-Russia nuke talks must go on

Authored by Shannon Bugos on September 1, 2022

The clock is ticking down on the last remaining U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaty, leaving open the possibility that the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals may soon be entirely unconstrained — a harrowing reality understood by most countries, which urge quick action. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ( New START ), signed between the United States and Russia in 2010, is the only nuclear arms control treaty left standing after cracks in the arms control regime have emerged over the past few years. The treaty established a ceiling on the size of the U.S. and Russian strategic...

How to Strengthen the NPT

Authored by Gabriela Iveliz Rosa Hernández on August 24, 2022

State Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) finally met in New York at the Tenth Review Conference (RevCon) — and at a moment when the international strategic environment is more unsettled than usual. This RevCon’s goal is similar to others, where NPT signatories are tasked with producing a consensus document that reviews implementation and compliance, and establishes updated commitments, recommendations, and follow-up steps for actions to advance the goals and objectives of the treaty in the future. But this is no ordinary RevCon. Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of...

Iran needs to cooperate with the IAEA. That isn’t negotiable.

Authored by Kelsey Davenport on August 16, 2022

Whatever Iran ultimately decides about returning to compliance with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) years-long investigation into whether Iran failed to declare all of its nuclear materials and activities must continue unimpeded. While the growing proliferation risk posed by Iran’s advancing nuclear program highlights the urgency of reinstating the JCPOA’s strict limits and intrusive monitoring, there is little, if any, space for the United States and other parties to the agreement to negotiate over the agency’s safeguards...

To Move Back From the Brink, Restart Nuclear Talks

Authored by Daryl G. Kimball on August 11, 2022

Over the long course of the nuclear age, millions of people—from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the United States, Russia, and around the globe—have stood up to demand meaningful action to halt arms racing, end nuclear weapons testing, reduce the number and role of nuclear weapons, and move toward the elimination of nuclear weapons. But without renewed public pressure and focused international demands for renewed disarmament diplomacy between Washington and Moscow, a dangerous, unconstrained global nuclear arms race is on the horizon. Already unsteady and dangerous relations between Moscow and...

When Shareholders Ask Weapons Manufacturers Questions

Authored by Magritte Gordaner on August 10, 2022

Earlier this year, two of the largest weapons manufacturing companies held their annual shareholder meetings and voted on proposals meant to address human rights. General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, whose tanks, missile systems, and other products have been used in conflicts around the world , were pressed to adopt shareholder proposals highlighting a need for due diligence and human rights impact assessment procedures to better address the damage their weapons cause. While these shareholder initiatives did not pass at these meetings, both proposals received a significant amount of...