Digests and Blog

At the mid-point in the month-long 2015 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in New York, there is growing frustration about the new approach being pursued by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and other Arab League states on the goal of convening a conference to discuss a weapons of mass destruction (WMD) free-zone in the Middle East. A proposal engineered and advanced by Egypt would give the UN Secretary General the sole responsibility to hold a conference on establishing such a zone. But this proposal, which would cut out Finnish diplomat Jaako Laajava—the…

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) recently led an experiment designed to improve the United States’ ability to detect underground nuclear explosions using conventional and advanced detection technology. This experiment was the fourth in a series of experiments conducted since 2011. The experiment tested many detection tools, such as: high-resolution accelerometers, infrasound, seismic, explosive performance, electromagnetic, ground-based LIDAR (light detection and ranging), digital photogrammetry data, and satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR…

As 190 countries meet in New York this month to discuss the implementation of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), a number of steps can be taken to accelerate the pace of disarmament and ensure that the world’s most dangerous weapon do not spread. The NPT, which entered into force in March of 1970, is the most comprehensive nuclear arms control agreement in the world. The NPT divides the 190 party members into two groups. Five countries are recognized in the NPT as nuclear-weapon states and have committed to disarm all existing nuclear weapons. These states are the United States,…

On April 14 the U.S. State Department Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation released a so-called fact sheet entitled “Myths and Facts Regarding the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Regime.” As such, it represents the official position of the United States government, and is aimed at international delegations that will be attending the 2015 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference from April 27 to May 22 at the United Nations in New York City. Unfortunately, the State Department’s fact sheet contains several important statements that are misleading,…

Iran and the IAEA Back on Track? Earlier this week, Iranian officials met with officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Tehran to continue discussions on the agency's investigation into Iran's past activities allegedly related to nuclear weapons development. Tero Varjoranta, deputy director general of the IAEA and head of the safeguards department led the agency's team. Following the meeting the IAEA released a statement saying that the two sides had a "constructive exchange" on practical measures and will meet again in the future. Details released by the White House…

  Earlier today, Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) negotiated compromise language that makes very minimal adjustments to the earlier version of Corker's bill, S. 615, "The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015.” The revised bill was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and will go to the floor of the Senate and eventually the House in the coming weeks. We have expressed deep concerns about the legislation for several weeks. The proposal is still very troublesome and unnecessary in a number of respects—even though it has, through the meat grinder of…

  Some critics of the most recent P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) framework agreement with Iran mistakenly claim that allowing Iran to enrich uranium under the final deal represents a novel departure from a Bush-era zero enrichment policy. This camp believes that President Barack Obama should seek a deal with Iran that permanently eliminates all centrifuges and does not allow for any enrichment. These demands are unreasonable. Even President George W. Bush’s administration indicated as early as 2006 that a future Iranian enrichment program was…

  The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) between Russia and the United States was signed five years ago today. Last week, Washington released the latest data exchanged under the treaty on the numbers of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. Considering that Russia and the West are passing through the worst political-military crisis since the end of the Cold War, New START’s latest numbers are particularly welcome. President Barack Obama should further burnish U.S. nuclear disarmament bona fides by ordering an acceleration of the treaty reductions already programmed and announce it…

Close Counts in More Than Horseshoes.... As negotiations extend past the March 31 target for reaching a framework nuclear agreement, it is still uncertain when talks will wrap up and what the outcome will be. While the deadline for a comprehensive deal is June 30, expectations are high for an announcement about agreement between Iran and six world powers (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) on the broad parameters of a final deal before this round ends. However, it remains unclear what that announcement will look like and how much detail will be included…

Foreign Ministers Descend on Lausanne Negotiators are down to the final three days before the target date for reaching a framework that lays out the broad parameters of a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. While U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif arrived in Lausanne, Switzerland on March 25, the other P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) ministers have been trickling in over the weekend. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and EU…