The Project for the CTBT aims to support and coordinate the work of NGOs and policy, scientific and security experts in order to provide the public and policy-makers with sound information and analysis about the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The following updates provide news and analyses on the status of the treaty and work of the CTBT Organization. To receive these by email, subscribe to our regular updates list.
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The Trump administration's State Department budget request for fiscal year 2018 includes full funding for the United States assessed contribution to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which operates the global monitoring system to detect and deter nuclear explosions and verify compliance with the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
On February 23, Japan announced its largest voluntary contribution of $2.43 million (USD) to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) to improve the organization's verification capabilities to detect nuclear explosions around the world.
Greg Spriggs, a weapon physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and a team made up of film experts, archivists, and software developers have set out to find, preserve, and declassify the 10,000 films made depicting the 210 U.S. atmospheric nuclear tests from between 1945 to 1962.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) introduced legislation on February 7 to limit all funding for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), except for its International Monitoring System (IMS).
U.S. Secretary of Energy Dr. Ernest Moniz and Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization Dr. Lassina Zerbo headlined a November 30 National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) symposium on Capitol Hill, which displayed the increasingly sophisticated array of United States and international nuclear test monitoring equipment and technology.
Stephen Rademaker (Podesta Group) and Michael Krepon (Stimson) testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on President Obama's proposal for a UN Security Council resolution reinforcing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
On September 23, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2310, which reaffirmed the international moratorium on nuclear weapon testing. The resolution followed a September 15 statement by the permanent five members of the UN Security Council committing not to defeat “the object and purpose” of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as required under customary international law. It also acknowledged the value of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization’s International Monitoring System.
The Stimson Center and the Arms Control Association hosted a panel discussion about the history and progress of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) 20 years after it was signed on September 24, 1996. To date, 183 states have signed the treaty.
North Korea conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test on September 8. The test was met with international condemnation and calls for increased sanctions on North Korea.
The first Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing dealing with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in over a decade took place on September 7.