The Arms Control Association works to keep the public and the press informed about breaking arms control developments. Below you will find our latest press releases and media advisories.
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LATEST PRESS RELEASES
(Washington, D.C.) Next week, diplomats from the P5+1 group of states (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) will hold a second round of talks with senior Iranian officials in Baghdad to discuss the Iranian nuclear program. The May 23 round of negotiations are expected to focus on Iran's enrichment of uranium to 20 percent and improved cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.)—Representatives of various groups advocating nuclear arms reductions, presented a petition with over 50,000 signatures to the White House. The appeal--circulated between February and April--urges President Obama to reduce the role and number of nuclear weapons as he makes a once-in-a-decade decision on Presidential nuclear weapons policy “guidance.”
(Washington, D.C.) At the May 20-21 NATO summit in Chicago, the alliance is expected to approve and release its Deterrence and Defense Posture Review (DDPR) report. The DDPR was launched following the previous NATO summit to determine the proper mix of nuclear, conventional and missile defense assets for the alliance.
More than 50 world leaders met recently in South Korea to address the challenges posed by the buildup and spread of nuclear weapons. As President Barack Obama noted, success depends on a multilayered strategy, including implementation of a global, verifiable treaty banning nuclear weapons testing.
The press recently reported that the Pentagon is preparing options for President Barack Obama as part of the Nuclear Posture Review implementation study. The mere notion of restructuring U.S. nuclear forces unleashed panicked reactions from Capitol Hill’s most ardent nuclear weapons enthusiasts.
Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl G. Kimball was interviewed by NPR's Mike Shusters on the upcoming P5+1 negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey.
(Washington, D.C.) For the first time in 15 months the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) will hold talks with Iran on its nuclear program in Istanbul April 14. The meeting is expected to be the beginning of a series of talks rather than a single session over the weekend. The talks are likely to focus on Iran's enrichment to 20% as a confidence-building step toward broader progress on resolving the nuclear issue.
This week at an international nuclear security summit in South Korea, President Barack Obama's private request to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for "space" on his proposal for cooperation on missile defense was overheard from a live microphone and grabbed the headlines.
For Immediate Release: March 28, 2012
(Washington, D.C.) The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will release a major new technical report on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) this Friday March 30. The report will assess the U.S. ability to maintain its nuclear arsenal without nuclear test explosions and the ability of the international monitoring system to detect clandestine tests.
(Washington, D.C.) An independent report released today ahead of the March 26-27, 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul finds that states are on track to meet most of the national commitments they made in 2010 to improve the security of nuclear-weapons usable materials worldwide, but that more work, political will, and financial resources are still required to address the ongoing challenge of safeguarding nuclear material.
In the 20 years since the end of the Cold War, successive U.S. and Russian presidents have gradually reduced the size and salience of their enormous nuclear stockpiles, which remain by far the largest of any country. Nevertheless, the size of each country's arsenal far exceeds what is necessary to deter nuclear attack by the other or by one of the world's other nuclear-armed states.
(Washington, D.C.) Amid rising tensions over Iran's nuclear program, the key parties engaged in the issue have all said they are interested in a diplomatic solution to the current impasse. In a letter on behalf of the P5+1 last October, European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton called on Iran to return to serious talks on the nuclear file. Iranian officials have said they are ready for talks and are preparing a formal response.
(Washington, D.C.) At 2 p.m. today, the Pentagon is scheduled to release major budget decisions stemming from its Jan. 5 strategic guidance review, which states that: "It is possible that our deterrence goals can be achieved with a smaller nuclear force, which would reduce the number of nuclear weapons in our inventory as well as their role in U.S. national security strategy."
By Daryl G. Kimball and Tom Z. Collina
The following piece was originally published in The Christian Science Monitor on January 19, 2012.
In order to reach its goal of at least $480 billion in Pentagon savings over the next decade, the Obama administration must scale back previous schemes for a new generation of strategic nuclear weapons delivery systems.
(Washington, D.C.) Kathi Lynn Austin garnered the highest number of votes in an online poll to determine the "2011 Arms Control Persons of the Year." Nine other individuals and institutions were nominated by the staff of the Arms Control Association for their achievements and contributions.
(Washington, D.C.) The Obama administration entered office in 2009 seeking both to maintain pressure on Iran to comply with its nonproliferation obligations and to engage Tehran in a renewed dialogue on confidence-building measures to allay concerns about the purpose of its nuclear program.ran in a renewed dialogue on confidence-building measures to allay concerns about the purpose of its nuclear program.
Every year since 2007, ACA's staff has nominated several individuals and institutions that best exemplify leadership and action in pursuing effective arms control solutions.
(Washington, D. C.) Today, the Indonesian parliament approved the ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear weapons test explosions and establishes a global system for detecting and deterring clandestine test explosions.
(Washington, D.C.) – Twenty-five years ago this month, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Reykjavik, Iceland and moved to the verge of an agreement to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
In their article, “Reykjavik: When Abolition Was Within Reach,” in the October issue of Arms Control Today, Thomas Blanton and Svetlana Savranskaya of the National Security Archive at George Washington University delve into primary-source documents to fill out the historical picture of the October 11-12 summit.