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"The Arms Control Association’s work is an important resource to legislators and policymakers when contemplating a new policy direction or decision."

– General John Shalikashvili
former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Arms Control Now Blog

Obama Administration Proposes Increase for NNSA Stockpile Management Budget

On February 1, the Obama administration proposed a 10 percent increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration's stockpile management programs . If approved, funding for the weapons complex including stockpile surveillance and warhead life extension programs would rise to just over $7 billion. The proposal would ensure funds for the agency to reach full production of the refurbished Navy W-76 Trident submarine warhead, to refurbish the B-61 bomb, and to study options for maintaining the W-78, the warhead in the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. The request would also...

Vice-President Biden Pledges Support for Stockpile Stewardship to Further Obama's Nuclear Security Agenda

In today's edition of The Wall Street Journal , Vice-president Biden pens an op-ed entitled, " The President's Nuclear Vision ," stating that the administration's fiscal year 2011 budget request to Congress will propose a $600 million increase in the National Nuclear Security Administration's nonproliferation and stockpile management programs budget (about 10% above current levels) and will seek an increase of approximately $5 billion over the next 5 years. He writes in part: "Our budget request is just one of several closely related and equally important initiatives giving life to the...

Former Utah Senator Jake Garn Calls for CTBT Ratification

In today's Deseret News , former Senator from Utah Jake Garn cites the changing nature of 21st century security threats and a growing bipartisan consensus in his call for U.S. ratification of the CTBT . He points out that many political and technical realities have changed since the Senate declined to approve the treaty in 1999, including significantly enhanced treaty verification and advances in stockpile stewardship programs that help to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal. He writes, "Today, we stand to gain more than any other nation from a global, verifiable ban on all nuclear weapons...

ACA Senior Fellow Greg Thielmann on Iran and the CTBT

Native Iowan and Arms Control Association Senior Fellow Greg Thielmann outlines the nonproliferation and security benefits of U.S. ratification of the CTBT in a January 22, 2010 op-ed in The Des Moines Register. In order to contain Iran's nuclear program, the United States must pursue an effective "full court press" involving robust diplomacy, targeted international sanctions, and U.S. reconsideration and ratification of the CTBT, Thielmann argues. U.S. ratification will spur other Annex 2 countries to ratify, and increase international pressure on Iran, he writes. "The United States no...

The Project for the CTBT is on Twitter!

Follow the Project for the CTBT on Twitter to receive up to the minute updates, information and news related to the CTBT!

Religious and Scientific Leaders Call for CTBT Toward Reducing Nuclear Risk

A prominent Catholic bishop and a Nobel laureate today called for a "step-by-step process to prevent the use and spread of [nuclear weapons]" in an Atlantic Journal Constitution op-ed, citing a consensus within the scientific and religious communities that nuclear weapons "are a global liability". Howard James Hubbard, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops and 1998 Nobel laureate in physics Leon Lederman argue that the CTBT will "include practical, verifiable steps that would make us more secure, prevent the spread of nuclear...

India's Singh Says U.S. CTBT Ratification Will Create "New Situation"

Indian newspaper The Hindu reported today that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated for the first time during his current administration that India may be amenable to signing onto the CTBT, once the United States and China ratify. Singh was probed by his Japanese counterpart, Yuki Hatoyama, during a meeting regarding nuclear energy cooperation between the two countries. Mr. Hatoyama, told reporters that he had emphasized Japan's desire for New Delhi to sign and ratify the treaty, remarking that, "Globally there is a rising momentum of [the CTBT] entering into force. I expressed my...

Vice President Briefed by Lab Directors

On December 16, 2009, the lab directors from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory met with Vice President Joe Biden for a private briefing in the White House. Biden was tapped to be the Administration's point person for CTBT ratification efforts in early 2009. Biden and the lab directors were joined by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman, National Nuclear Security Administrator Tom D'Agostino, and officials from the State Department and the Department of Defense. A Los Alamos National Laboratory press...

CTBT Monitoring Station Completed Near Iran

A primary seismic station within the CTBT’s International Monitoring System (IMS), used to deter and detect nuclear tests, has finished construction in the Middle East. The station, named PS44, was recently completed near Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, a few kilometers from the border of Iran. It is one of 337 monitoring stations around the world designed to verify the CTBT. 75% of the IMS has already been built and certified, and is actively transmitting data. The station’s recording facility started transmitting seismic information to the CTBT’s International Data Cenre (IDC) on October 5, 2008...

Fall 2009 Highlights of CTBT News Coverage and Opinions

Some of the notable news articles and op-eds related to the CTBT from this fall include: Daryl G. Kimball, "The Case for the CTBT," Foreign Service Journal, December 2009 . Kaegan McGrath, "Verifiability, Reliability and National Security: The Case for U.S. Ratification of the CTBT," The Nonproliferation Review, November 2008, pp 407 - 433. David Hafemeister, "Assessing the Merits of the CTBT," The Nonproliferation Review, November 2008, pp. 473-482. Daryl G. Kimball, "Why We Don't Need to Resume Nuclear Testing: A Reply to Senator Jon Kyl's 'Why We Need to Test Nuclear Weapons',"...

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