"I find hope in the work of long-established groups such as the Arms Control Association...[and] I find hope in younger anti-nuclear activists and the movement around the world to formally ban the bomb."
Report Criticizes Stockpile Stewardship Program
DOE, on the other hand, argues that its stewardship plan is necessary to maintain the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal under the CTB, and will only result in minor modifications to existing nuclear weapons, not the development of new warhead designs. Speaking for the Clinton administration toward the conclusion of the CTB negotiations, Robert Bell, the senior director for defense policy and arms control at the National Security Council, said in July 1996 that "We are not seeking through our technology to acquire the means to frustrate the CTB or to find technological alternatives to build new weapons types, absent testing. We accept that the effect of the treaty will be to rule out opportunities to create new weapon types, absent nuclear testing."