Watch Executive Director John Isaacs on START
Jan 29, 2010
Last night, John was interviewed on Russia Today t.v. on START.
Watch the video to hear about what's at stake in the negotiations, the expected timeline for signing and ratifying the treaty, what the negotiations mean for the international community, and whether anything could derail it.
The Wall Street Journal Got It Wrong: The Real Story on Nuclear Reductions
Jan 07, 2010
Obama and Medvedev at signing ceremony
From Kingston Reif, Deputy Director for Non-Proliferation at our sister organization, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, as posted on Nukes of Hazard...
The Wall Street Journal has begun 2010 a lot like it ended 2009: By attempting to undermine the Obama administration’s pursuit of a new nuclear reductions agreement with Russia.
2010’s first offering focuses on the December 15 letter sent by 40 Republican Senators (and Sen. Joe Lieberman) to President Obama claiming that “the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 requires that the submission of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) follow-on agreement to the Senate be accompanied by a plan to modernize the U.S. nuclear deterrent.”
As I noted in a pre-holiday interview with DailyKos’ Plutonium Page, the Republican Senate letter grossly distorts the Defense Authorization Act. The bill requires a plan to enhance the safety, security, and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile, modernize the nuclear weapons complex, and maintain the delivery vehicles (i.e. bombers, subs, and missiles). However, it says nothing about modernizing the “nuclear deterrent” or building new nuclear warheads. Nothing at all, except to those whose aim is to mislead.
Both the Senate letter and the Journal claim that the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States links nuclear force reductions and modernization. In the words of the Journal: “The bipartisan report noted, among other things, that the U.S. needs new warheads and nuclear research facilities.” This too is misleading. The bipartisan report cited by the Journal said no such thing...
Obama's revolutionary speech in Prague
Apr 06, 2009
What a week for arms control.
Amid the cacophony of voices out there on arms control discussing issues from North Korea's recent missile test to allegations against Iran, and just days after his joint announcement with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to pursue a successor to START, President Obama's voice rang loud and clear this weekend in Prague when he gave what could be the most significant speech of the nuclear age.
Just one highlight?
“As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it...I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
Not only did he call for a world free of nuclear weapons, but he explicitly outlined steps that reverse the Bush administration policy that made nuclear weapons a central tenet of American national security.
These steps included:
--A new treaty with Russia this year to reduce nuclear warheads and stockpiles – and then to move to further cuts with the other nuclear powers;
-- "Immediately and aggressively” pursuing ratification of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty;
--Ending the production of fissile materials that can be used in nuclear weapons;
--Strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty;
--Expanding international inspections to detect treaty violations;
--Securing all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years;
--Hosting a Global Summit on Nuclear Security within the next year.
Want to write a letter to your members of Congress, asking them to support this plan? Click here.
