Arms Control Now Blog

Authored by on June 30, 2019

The bi-annual Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Science and Technology Conference (SnT2019) took place June 24-28 at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. The conference brought together over one thousand participants, representing the most diverse regions of the world, and gathered their ideas and perspectives at the conference grounds.The first conference day highlighted several pertinent topics, such as: youth as the advocates of progress towards CTBT ratification, gender equality in the science and technology field, and the role of expert communities in arms control…

Authored by on May 10, 2019

NPT Looks Ahead to 2020 Review Conference Without Consensus Recommendations May 10, 2019 NPT states-parties failed to adopt a common set of recommendations for the 2020 Review Conference on the final day of the two week-long 2019 PrepCom on Friday, May 10. Nevertheless, most states expressed optimism in concluding statements about prospects for next year’s review conference and underlined the importance of action in the intervening 12 months on key NPT-related commitments. The recommendations drafted by the chair, Syed Hussin of Malaysia, failed to garner consensus especially after a round…

Authored by on May 7, 2019

The Trump administration’s May 3 announcement to extend waivers for critical nuclear international cooperation projects with Iran is a mixed bag. It is clearly in the U.S. and international interest to allow the continuation of projects at key nuclear sites that reduce Iran’s nuclear weapons potential, as required by 2015 multilateral nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). However, the U.S. decision to cut down on the length of the waivers (from 180 days to 90 days) and tighten nuclear-related sanctions in other areas puts the deal in further jeopardy. The…

Authored by on April 12, 2019

In the latest in a series of expert conferences and dialogues in Moscow and Washington, a group of distinguished U.S. and Russian experts released a public statement calling on U.S. and Russian officials to get back to the arms control negotiating table, with the first order of business being agreement on a five-year extension of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), as allowed for in Article XIV of the treaty, and talks designed to head-off new arms competition in the wake of the likely termination of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The April 10…

Authored by on March 26, 2019

Testimony by Jeff Abramson, Senior FellowArms Control AssociationThe House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations“Proposed Small Arms Transfers: Big Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy”March 26, 2019Good morning, Chair Bera and Ranking Member Zeldin. It is a privilege to testify before this Committee and discuss concerns about how the United States exports some of the weapons most used in violence around the world and proposed changes that I fear could lead to greater human suffering.1To sum up my forthcoming remarks in just a few lines: The weapons and ammunition that…

Authored by on March 15, 2019

After a long and extraordinarily productive life and career that made our world a safer place, Lawrence D. Weiler, one of the early pioneers and architects who helped negotiate the first major nuclear arms control, risk reduction, and nonproliferation agreements, died last Sunday, Feb. 24 from complications of pneumonia. He was 98. Larry Weiler was in the right place at the right time to make a difference during difficult times. Weiler served as the ambassador and U.S. Coordinator for the UN General Assembly special session on disarmament and worked under six different presidents — from…

Authored by on March 12, 2019

An international investigative body confirmed in a March 2019 report that a chemical weapon, likely chlorine, was used in an April 2018 attack in Douma, Syria, despite likely Russian and Syrian attempts to impede the investigations, and in blatant violation of international law. The March 2019 report is the most recent from the Fact Finding Mission (FFM) set up to investigate alleged chemical attacks in Syria by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)—the implementing arm of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. The FFM has investigated over 80 reported chemical…

Authored by on February 28, 2019

Not only did the summit in Hanoi between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fail to produce meaningful results, but Trump and his team have clearly squandered the seven months since the Singapore summit to make progress on even modest steps toward that meeting's lofty goals. President Trump’s happy talk after the historic event in June last year about North Korea no longer being a nuclear threat is just that. In reality, even without nuclear and ballistic missile flight testing, North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs—and the security risks…

Authored by on February 27, 2019

Overlooked but significant controversies have been simmering about an independent government board in charge of overseeing safety standards and practices at the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons complex, and the battle for independent oversight between the board and the agency. These issues are made all the more concerning against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s costly and expanding plans to recapitalize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and increase the production of plutonium cores for nuclear weapons. In May 2018, the Energy Department issued Order 140.1, which would…

Authored by on February 15, 2019

This past week, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) has re-emerged in the international spotlight. On Wednesday, February 13, 2019, the Republic of Zimbabwe deposited its instrument of ratification of the CTBT to the United Nations. Zimbabwe’s accession to ratification status of the treaty follows the Kingdom of Thailand’s realization of ratification on September 25, 2018.Zimbabwe and Thailand mark progress toward universal ratification of the CTBT. Currently, 184 states have signed and 168 have ratified the treaty. However, the CTBT cannot enter into force until ratification by all…