Press Room


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.

Journalists and Producers: If you are interested in speaking with or scheduling an interview with one of our experts, please contact our communications team.


LATEST PRESS RELEASES

March 28, 2012

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.

March 13, 2012

(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.

February 17, 2012

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.

February 15, 2012

(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.

January 26, 2012

(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."

January 20, 2012

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.

January 4, 2012

(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.

December 19, 2011

(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.

December 19, 2011

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.

December 6, 2011

(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.

October 7, 2011

(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.

September 27, 2011

In the midst of proposals for renewing international talks with Iran over the nuclear issue and ahead of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) quarterly board meeting in which Iran's cooperation with the agency would again come under fire, Arms Control Today (ACT) interviewed Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's representative to the IAEA, about the current impasse.

September 22, 2011

(New York/Washington) -- At a meeting of more than 100 senior government officials at the United Nations to discuss pathways to bring the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force, a diverse set of nongovernmental nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament leaders, as well as former government officials and diplomats are calling on all states to translate their words of support for the Treaty into concrete action.

September 21, 2011

By Hazel R. O'Leary and Daryl G. Kimball

The following piece was originally published in the LA Times on September 14, 2011.

It's been signed and ratified by 154 member countries; the United States is one of just nine key nations that hasn't ratified it. The Senate can change that — and should do so now.

September 6, 2011

(Washington, D.C.) A Middle Eastern zone free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction “is not only an aspirational goal, but a matter of practical urgency,” Patricia Lewis and William C. Potter of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies say in “The Long Journey Toward a WMD-Free Middle East,” the opening article for a special section of five essays on the zone by nonproliferation and regional experts in the September issue of Arms Control Today.

August 4, 2011

By Greg Thielmann, Senior Fellow, Arms Control Association

The following piece was originally posted online at The Des Moines Register on August 4, 2011.

Washington is obsessed these days with reducing the deficit. The GOP presidential contenders crisscrossing Iowa give prominence to the issue as well. But even as they call for ever deeper budget cuts, they have been reluctant to look at trimming the $27 billion annual cost of operating and maintaining our bloated Cold War nuclear arsenal and the $125 billion planned for building new weapons in the decade ahead.

August 2, 2011

By Tom Collina, Research Director, Arms Control Association

The following entry was originally posted on The Hill's Congress Blog on August 2, 2011.

As the dust settles on the just-passed budget deal, one thing is becoming clear: there is now high-level bipartisan agreement that the U.S. defense budget will be reduced in a major way, anywhere from $350 to $850 billion over the next decade, according to the White House. And despite defense hawk grumblings, reductions of this magnitude can actually make America safer by forcing leaders to cancel low-priority programs and focus on the ones that really matter. It’s time to get serious about our top security priorities and cut the dead wood.

July 18, 2011

(Washington, D.C.) More than two dozen nuclear experts and former senior government officials are calling on NATO "to declare a more limited role for its nuclear capabilities that would help open the way for overdue changes to its Cold War-era policy of forward-basing U.S. tactical nuclear weapons. This would help facilitate another, post-New START round of reductions, which should involve of all types of Russian and U.S. nuclear weapons."

June 27, 2011

(Washington, D.C.) The director of the independent Arms Control Association praised last week's decision by the 46-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to tighten its guidelines regarding the transfer of uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing facilities, equipment and technology.

May 11, 2011

(Washington, D.C.) A report released today on the future of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe finds that upcoming NATO policy decisions about the approximately 180 remaining warheads on five European NATO bases will affect relations among NATO members, and help determine the pace and shape of the next round of U.S.-Russian nuclear arms reductions.