Inside the Arms Control Association

Authored by on June 27, 2023

Inside the Arms Control AssociationJune 2023Earlier this month, the Biden administration outlined a viable pathway for moving back from the nuclear brink.At ACA's annual meeting June 2, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan delivered a major policy address stating that the United States is ready to engage in nuclear arms control diplomacy with Russia, as well as the other nuclear-armed NPT states-parties "without preconditions."Sullivan criticized Russia's suspension of its implementation of New START but he noted that "Russia has publicly committed to adhere to the Treaty's central limits…

Authored by on May 11, 2023

Inside the Arms Control AssociationMay 2023We are honored to have President Joe Biden's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, delivering the keynote address at our Annual Meeting, “Reducing Nuclear Threats in a Time of Peril,” on June 2, 2023, at 9:00 am, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.As President Biden wrote in his message to ACA at last year’s ACA annual meeting: “Today—perhaps more than any other time since the Cold War—we must work to reduce the risk of an arms race or nuclear escalation. In this time of intense geopolitical tension, arms control and nonproliferation…

Authored by on March 9, 2023

Inside the Arms Control AssociationMarch 2023In a rambling Feb. 21 speech attempting to justify Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to “suspend” implementation of New START, the last remaining treaty limiting the world's two largest nuclear arsenals.While this does not mark the end of the treaty, Putin’s announcement makes it far more likely that, after New START expires Feb. 5, 2026, there will be no agreement limiting U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals for the first time since 1972.Despite Russia’s failure to comply with New…

Authored by on January 26, 2023

Inside the Arms Control Association January 2023 Since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine last February, our work to reduce and eliminate the dangers posed by nuclear weapons has become even more challenging. It is no wonder that our partners at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved their “Doomsday Clock” 10 seconds closer to midnight. Despite support from President Biden, U.S.-Russian nuclear risk reduction and arms control talks remain on hold. The last remaining bilateral nuclear arms control agreement, New START, will expire in just 1,106 days. Unless Washington and Moscow…

Authored by on December 15, 2022

This past year, we have been reminded that the nuclear weapons threat still hangs over all of us. Nuclear competition is accelerating. The risk of military confrontation between the nuclear-armed states is rising. Nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament diplomacy is currently stalled.Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats in the context of Russia’s illegal and brutal war on Ukraine underscore the growing dangers of nuclear war, the risks of nuclear deterrence-based strategies, and the unfinished business that lies ahead.Our collective actions today, as citizens, organizations,…

Authored by on November 10, 2022

Inside the Arms Control Association November 2022 On September 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued another round of thinly veiled nuclear threats in the context of his ongoing military assault on the people of Ukraine. On October 6, President Biden called the “prospect of Armageddon'' the highest since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The President is justifiably alarmed and people in the United States and around the globe are far more aware and concerned about the risk of nuclear war. In response, our Arms Control Association team has been working overtime. In the face of global…

Authored by on September 20, 2022

Inside the Arms Control Association September 2022 Five decades ago, the first bilateral nuclear arms control agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union were concluded: the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and the Interim Agreement on Strategic Arms Limitations (SALT), the latter being approved by a joint Congressional resolution and signed by President Richard Nixon in September 1972. “This is not an agreement which guarantees that there will be no war,” Nixon said. “But it is the beginning of a process that is enormously important, that will limit now and, we hope,…

Authored by on August 13, 2022

Inside the Arms Control Association August 2022 Russia's ongoing, large-scale war on Ukraine has not only increased human suffering and reminded the world of the risks of nuclear weapons, nuclear threats, and nuclear deterrence, but it has also derailed talks that could lead to new arrangements to maintain verifiable caps, or perhaps reduce, the world’s largest nuclear arsenals–until, perhaps, now. Building on his letter to the Arms Control Association on June 2, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a statement Aug. 1 at the start of the 10th NPT Review Conference in which he declared:  "Even…

Authored by on July 19, 2022

Inside the Arms Control Association July 2022 President Vladimir Putin’s threats of the possible use of nuclear weapons against any state that might interfere with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have reawakened the world to the dangers of nuclear war. The possibility of military conflict between Russian and NATO forces has significantly increased the risk of nuclear weapons use. Recent public opinion polling indicates that 80 percent of Americans are concerned that the war will expand and Russia will use nuclear weapons. I was honored to be invited by the Austrian government to speak last…

Authored by on June 10, 2022

Inside the Arms Control Association June 2022 At our June 2, 2022, Arms Control Association Annual Meeting, our all-star array of panelists and speakers, along with video messages from special guests, underscored the enduring value of persistent smart civil society efforts to deliver information, solutions, and pressure on policymakers to reduce and eventually eliminate the existential threats posed by nuclear weapons. More than 140 friends and members attended the meeting, which was held at the National Press Club, and more than 400 viewed the live webcast.   Our discussions made it…