Arms Control Now Blog

This week, ACA Executive Director Daryl Kimball published an Issue Brief responding to lingering questions and doubts regarding the United States' ability to maintain its nuclear stockpile into the indefinite future. While these issues are an important part of the current ratification debate of New START, they have lasting repercussions on any future conversation on nuclear arms control, namely consideration of the CTBT. As such, these misconceptions should be dispensed with promptly. Daryl refutes the standard treaty-skeptic talking points, positing that the "existing strategy for warhead…

Sixty-five years ago today, 210 miles south of Lost Alamos, Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, Lieutenant General Leslie Groves and others gathered in the remote corner of the Alamagordo Desert to detonate a simple plutonium implosion device, nicknamed "The Gadget." At exactly 5:30 AM on Monday, July 16, 1945, the first nuclear weapons test explosion was conducted. According to participants of the Manhattan Project, the initial euphoria and relief that the bomb worked gave way to worry, dread, and regret. Test director Kenneth Bainbridge called the sight was a "foul and awesome display." "We waited…

The CTBT, as a key tenet of the nonproliferation regime, has been a noticeable part of the conversation at this month's NPT Review Conference in New York. Below is an index of opening statements from countries that cite the CTBT as a requirement of reinvigorating the NPT: African Group Algeria Australia Austria Bangladesh Botswana Brazil Bulgaria Chile China Colombia Croatia Denmark Estonia European Union France Germany Ghana Greece Guatemala Holy See Indonesia Ireland Italy Japan Kazakhstan…

Yesterday, Congressman Michael Turner, ranking Republican member on the House Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, released three letters from the directors of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratory written at his request on their views on the unclassified executive summary of December 2009 report of the JASON group of independent scientific experts on the stockpile stewardship program. (Click here for the summary of the report.) None of the lab directors’ letters contradict the fundamental finding of the unclassified JASON…

Native Iowan and Arms Control Association Senior Fellow Greg Thielmann outlines the nonproliferation and security benefits of U.S. ratification of the CTBT in a January 22, 2010 op-ed in The Des Moines Register. In order to contain Iran's nuclear program, the United States must pursue an effective "full court press" involving robust diplomacy, targeted international sanctions, and U.S. reconsideration and ratification of the CTBT, Thielmann argues. U.S. ratification will spur other Annex 2 countries to ratify, and increase international pressure on Iran, he writes. "The United States no…

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A prominent Catholic bishop and a Nobel laureate today called for a "step-by-step process to prevent the use and spread of [nuclear weapons]" in an Atlantic Journal Constitution op-ed, citing a consensus within the scientific and religious communities that nuclear weapons "are a global liability". Howard James Hubbard, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops and 1998 Nobel laureate in physics Leon Lederman argue that the CTBT will "include practical, verifiable steps that would make us more secure, prevent the spread of nuclear…

Indian newspaper The Hindu reported today that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated for the first time during his current administration that India may be amenable to signing onto the CTBT, once the United States and China ratify. Singh was probed by his Japanese counterpart, Yuki Hatoyama, during a meeting regarding nuclear energy cooperation between the two countries. Mr. Hatoyama, told reporters that he had emphasized Japan's desire for New Delhi to sign and ratify the treaty, remarking that, "Globally there is a rising momentum of [the CTBT] entering into force. I expressed…

On December 16, 2009, the lab directors from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory met with Vice President Joe Biden for a private briefing in the White House. Biden was tapped to be the Administration's point person for CTBT ratification efforts in early 2009. Biden and the lab directors were joined by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman, National Nuclear Security Administrator Tom D'Agostino, and officials from the State Department and the Department of Defense. A Los Alamos National Laboratory press…

A primary seismic station within the CTBT’s International Monitoring System (IMS), used to deter and detect nuclear tests, has finished construction in the Middle East. The station, named PS44, was recently completed near Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, a few kilometers from the border of Iran. It is one of 337 monitoring stations around the world designed to verify the CTBT. 75% of the IMS has already been built and certified, and is actively transmitting data. The station’s recording facility started transmitting seismic information to the CTBT’s International Data Cenre (IDC) on October 5, 2008…