Arms Control Now Blog

*Updated August 2019 President Donald Trump’s sudden decision and announcement on Oct. 20, 2018, to “terminate” the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty due to Russian violations of the treaty was met with bipartisan and international concern. On Dec. 4, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared Russia to be in "material breach" of the treaty and announced that the United States planned to suspend U.S. obligations under the treaty in 60 days unless Russia returned to compliance. On Feb. 1, 2019, the administration confirmed that the United States would simultaneously…

The U.S. decision to fire tear gas at men, women and children seeking asylum at the U.S./Mexican border may be legally dubious, but the brazen immorality of using a terrifying and indiscriminate weapon on a vulnerable crowd is undeniable. U.S. border patrol agents fired CS gas, a form of tear gas, into crowds of migrant men, women and children over the border with Mexico near San Diego and Tijuana on Jan. 1 and Nov. 25. The impact was horrific. Tear gas causes eye pain, coughing, burning sensations in the throat and nose and can lead to vomiting, fainting and even temporary vision loss. “I…

In this inspiring TED talk, Togzhan Kassenova reminds us of Kazakhstan's history as a Soviet Union nuclear test site. She tells the story of the fight of the Kazakh people to stop nuclear tests on their land.   

On November 26, 2018, the Seventy-Third Session of the UN General Assembly met in New York, where the “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization [CTBTO]” resolution was adopted.On the floor of the UN General Assembly, Dr. Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) advocated for the CTBT, mentioned the resolution, and challenged states to invigorate their commitment to the treaty. The adopted resolution renews the international community’s goals of entering…

As of November 19, 2018, Australia’s International Monitoring System(IMS) stations for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) are “operational and certified”. The operability of Australia’s twenty-one systems marks significant progress toward the CTBTO’s mission to establish 337 stations throughout the world that monitor for nuclear tests. Today, nearly 90% of stations are in service and certified against the CTBTO’s standards.According to the CTBTO, Australia boasts the third largest quantity of operationally certified IMS stations, following the United States and Russia. The…

On June 27, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing about expanding the compensation benefits granted under the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), together with amendments passed later, created an administrative program to provide compensation for some victims exposed to radiation during U.S. atmospheric nuclear testing and some employees of the U.S. uranium mining industry. Some advocates and lawmakers have criticized the act for excluding some individuals who were impacted by nuclear weapons testing and production.Senator…

August 29 marks the eighth international day against nuclear tests. Less than ten countries have tested over 2,000 nuclear weapons since the United States exploded the first nuclear weapon in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. The day against nuclear tests was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2009, when it adopted Resolution 64/35. The resolution was introduced by Kazakhstan to commemorate the 1991 closure of the Semipalatinsk testing site. The day is observed each year by events around the world, including symposia, conferences, exhibits, competitions, publications,…

Dr. Lassina Zerbo, the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), was the keynote at an American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Arms Control Association cosponsored event on June 14, 2018 to discuss the role of technology in North Korean disarmament. Following his opening remarks, Dr. Zerbo and an accompanying panel of experts engaged in a discussion on how the scientific community and international organizations can work together to advance individual and collective goals, particularly as they relate to verifying the dismantlement of a…

A new survey shows that 20 years after the opening for signature of the CTBT, the majority of Americans still support the test ban. This latest survey joins many other polls that have found high American support for the CTBT over the past six decades.This chart, pulled from data from the 2016 poll by Herzog and Baron, was in response to the following question: “Should the US Senate approve a treaty with 164 other countries that would prohibit nuclear weapon test explosions worldwide?”Working with the polling firm YouGov, Stephen Herzog and Jonathan Baron, both Ph.D candidates at Yale…

Following a late April announcement by Kim Jong Un, North Korea announced on May 24 that it had destroyed its nuclear testing site at Punggye-ri.“Dismantling the nuclear test ground was done in such a way as to make all the tunnels of the test ground collapse by explosion and completely close the tunnel entrances,” a deputy director at North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Institute said, according to state media.North Korea claimed to destroy the north, south and west portals to the testing site as well as barracks, observation towers and other buildings. The east portal was abandoned shortly after…