Arms Control Now Blog

Authored by on June 7, 2013

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…

Authored by on June 7, 2013

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…

Authored by on April 26, 2013

Christine Wing, a Senior Research Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, sat down with the CTBTO to discuss her experience working on nuclear disarmament during the Cold War and how civil society can advance the cause of disarmament today, and particularly how it can help achieve the entry into force of the CTBT. Wing stressed the importance of the CTBT's entry into force in stemming proliferation. She stated that a legal ban on nuclear testing would not only prevent horizontal proliferation-the development of nuclear weapons by non-nuclear states-but…

Authored by on April 26, 2013

Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico and a bipartisan group of senators reintroduced the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RESA) Amendments of 2013 on Friday, April 19. Representative Ray Lujan of New Mexico introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives the same day. This legislation would go beyond previous bills by extending compensation to uranium workers who were employed after December 31, 1971. It also makes all claimants eligible for medical benefits and the maximum compensation of $150,000, and funds an epidemiological study of the health effects of uranium workers…

Authored by on April 26, 2013

At an April 11 event hosted by the Arms Control Association, Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz (USAF, ret.) urged U.S. ratification of the CTBT. Shaheen noted that ratification of the CTBT will require a great deal of preparation, "But that just means we should start now to chart a path forward for its eventual consideration." Klotz reiterated his support for the CTBT, saying "the logic for moving forward and ahead on ratification of the CTBT is inescapable." He went on to say that the United States already abides by the requirements of the treaty and is unlikely to resume…

Authored by on April 26, 2013

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) announced on April 23 that its International Monitoring System (IMS) detected radioactive isotopes consistent with the February 12North Korean nuclear test and announced the discovery on April 23, 2013. The radionuclide station in Takasaki, Japan detected xenon-131m and xenon-133, two radioactive isotopes that are associated with nuclear fission. The gases detected by the Takasaki station, located approximately 620 miles from the North Korean test site, were produced by a nuclear fission event that occurred at least 50 days before…

Authored by on April 1, 2013

Support for the CTBT is growing across the political spectrum. Senior statesmen, including former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, former Secretaries of Defense William Perry, Harold Brown, and William Cohen, as well as President George H. W. Bush's National Security Advisor Gen. Brent Scowcroft have called on the Senate to reconsider and approve the CTBT An overwhelming majority of Americans also support a global, verifiable treaty banning all nuclear weapons test explosions. A 2004 public opinion poll found that 87 percent of respondents support U.S. ratification of…

Authored by on March 11, 2013

George Shultz walking with President Reagan outside the White House in December 1986.   By Daryl G. Kimball At a March 8 public forum, former Secretary of State George Shultz underscored once again his support for U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Shultz's remarks came in response to a question following his talk at an event organized by the Partnership for a Secure America on Capitol Hill. Shultz was asked for his "personal view on whether the U.S. should ratify the test ban treaty as a way to enhance U.S. security?" Shultz, who served as President…

Authored by on March 11, 2013

The CTBTO has seen a marked increase in its ability to locate and analyze nuclear test explosions since North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006. This is largely a result of an increase in the number of completed monitoring stations in the CTBTO's International Monitoring System (IMS), combined with increasingly larger nuclear explosions by North Korea. The IMS uses a combination of seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound, and radionuclide stations to detect nuclear test explosions. In October 2006, the IMS was approximately 60% complete, with 99 seismic stations in operation. The organization…

Authored by on March 11, 2013

At a March 8 event sponsored by the Partnership for a Secure America, President Reagan’s Secretary of State George Shultz underscored once again his support for U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Shultz’s remarks came in response to a question following his talk at an event organized on Friday, March 8 by the Partnership for a Secure America on Capitol Hill. Shultz was asked for his “personal view on whether the U.S. should ratify the test ban treaty as a way to enhance U.S. security?” Shultz, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State…