Digests and Blog

President Lyndon Johnson looking on as Secretary of State Dean Rusk prepares to sign the NPT, 1 July 1968.(Source: Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.) By Daryl G. Kimball Forty-five years ago today, the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and dozens of other countries signed the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) at ceremonies in Washington, Moscow, and London. In his remarks at the July 1, 1968 signing ceremony, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson called it "... a very reassuring and hopeful moment in the relations among nations. We hope and expect that virtually all the…

This bulletin, posted on Fridays, highlights significant events in the world of arms control in the coming week, as compiled by staff and friends of the Arms Control Association. (Send suggestions for events to be covered here.) - Jefferson Morley, Senior Editorial Consultant, Arms Control Today Missile Defense Faces July Test The Missile Defense Agency is expected to perform the next flight test for its troubled "Ground-based Mid-course" interceptor system sometime in July. The results will highlight the state of U.S. missile defense systems. In March, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced…

By Tom Z. Collina In a victory for fiscal sanity, Senate appropriators today cut the budget for the B61 gravity bomb, a $10 billion program to upgrade a weapon that President Obama said last week he wants to reduce. Given the high cost of this effort, the declining military justification, and the fact that less expensive alternatives exist, Senate appropriators made the right call. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to extend the service life of 400 B61 bombs for an estimated cost of $10 billion, or $25 million per bomb. NNSA is requesting $537 million for the program…

Fifty years ago on Monday, June 10, President John F. Kennedy delivered his eloquent and influential “Strategy of Peace” address on the campus of American University in Washington. Coming just months after the 1962 Cuban missile crisis drove home the risks of an unbridled nuclear arms race and the dangers of a direct superpower conflict, the speech was intended to send an unambiguous signal to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that the United States sought to “avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating defeat or nuclear war,” as Kennedy phrased it…

India and Japan released a joint statement May 29 on "strengthening the strategic and global partnership" between the two countries. However, the two states differed significantly in their statements regarding the CTBT. Prime Minister Abe of Japan "stressed the importance of bringing into force the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) at an early date." However, Prime Minister Singh of India simply reiterated New Delhi's "commitment to its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing," a statement which notably fails to mention the CTBT, the only legally-binding…

By Daryl G. Kimball On Monday June 3, leaders from dozens of states will gather at the United Nations in New York to sign the new Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The ATT will—for the first time— establish common international standards that must be met before states authorize transfers of conventional weapons or export ammunition and weapons parts and components.Over time, the ATT can help tip the scales in favor human rights and human security when states consider arms transfers. As Secretary of State John Kerry said April 2: "It will help reduce the risk that international transfers of…

By Timothy Farnsworth In recent years, cyber attacks and the threats they pose have grown in sophistication, from low-level disruption and data theft—which are still a majority of cyber attacks—to high-level espionage and destruction. Stuxnet, a piece of malware believed to be responsible for destroying approximately 1,000 centrifuges in Iran's Natanz nuclear facility in late 2009 and early 2010, was a game-changer. For the first time, a computer virus was used to destroy a piece of physical infrastructure and the world took notice. The power of such a capability is clear today, but what…

In Warsaw, the WMD interdiction initiative is getting a second look, and hopefully a second wind. By Ian Williams (Image Source: Singapore Customs Authority) May 31st marks the 10th anniversary of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a non-binding international effort to stop the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction and related materials. Member states are currently holding their first PSI High Level Political meeting in five years. The May 27-29 meeting is a critical opportunity for the Obama administration to take action on its pledge from the 2010 National Security…

By Kelsey Davenport, Daryl G. Kimball, and Greg Thielmann The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) May 2013 quarterly report on Iran's nuclear program indicates that Tehran is continuing to move forward on its nuclear program, installing more advanced centrifuges and building-up its stockpiles of uranium enriched to 3.5 percent and 20 percent, and moving forward on construction of its heavy water reactor at Arak. The report findings underscore the urgent need to intensify negotiations with Tehran to resolve the political questions surrounding Iran's nuclear program and to resolve the…

Ohio class ballistic missile submarine USS West Virginia (SSBN 736) transits the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway as it returns to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga. from a patrol mission. (U.S. Navy photo Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Kimberly Clifford/Released) By Tom Z. Collina In these days of high-stakes budget battles on Capitol Hill, it is typical for budget managers to point at someone else's program as the problem. But when everyone starts pointing at the same program, you know it's in trouble. And everyone—including the Navy—seems to be pointing their fingers at the Navy's…