By Daryl G. Kimball
In his stirring April 5 speech in Prague, President Barack Obama outlined his vision for strengthening global efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons and moving forward on practical, immediate steps "to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." Appropriately, his short list of such steps includes re-establishing U.S. leadership on the achievement of a global, verifiable ban on nuclear weapons testing. Obama pledged to "immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty [CTBT]."
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The Logic of the Test Ban Treaty
Loose Nukes in New Neighborhoods: The Next Generation of Proliferation Prevention
By Kenneth N. Luongo
In the initial weeks of the Obama administration, former Vice President Dick Cheney stated that there was a “high probability” of a terrorist attempt to use a nuclear weapon or biological agent and that “whether they can pull it off depends on what kind of policies we put in place.” President Barack Obama, in his April 5 Prague speech, said that terrorists “are determined to buy, build, or steal” a nuclear weapon and that the international community must work “without delay” to ensure that they never acquire one.
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Reshaping Strategic Relationships: Expanding the Arms Control Toolbox
By Lewis A. Dunn
Soon after the Obama administration took office, Vice President Joe Biden set the tone of the new administration’s approach toward Moscow when he called for the United States and Russia to press the “reset button” in their bilateral relationship. This theme was reiterated in the March 9, 2009, meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
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Defining Noncompliance: NPT Safeguards Agreements
By John Carlson
The process of determining noncompliance is an important aspect of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system, as well as the only established mechanism for determining noncompliance with the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) itself.
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Civilian Control of Nuclear Weapons
By William Lanouette
Ever since the Manhattan Project, which built the first U.S. atomic bombs during World War II, tensions have persisted among civilian and military leaders over the control of nuclear weapons. Those tensions are highlighted anew with a proposal to move the U.S. nuclear weapons program from the Department of Energy to the Department of Defense. President Barack Obama this year asked the Office of Management and Budget to study the shift and report on the pros and cons by September.
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Obama Calls for Nuclear Weapons-Free World
By Cole Harvey
President Barack Obama delivered his first major address on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation April 5 in Prague, declaring he would “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
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Five Candidates Vie for Top IAEA Post
By Peter Crail
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced April 29 that the field of candidates for director-general has expanded from two to five.
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CCW Extends Work on Clusters Protocol
By Jeff Abramson
At what was to be their final meeting of the year, a group of governmental experts failed to complete the text of a possible new protocol to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) specifically addressing cluster munitions. The meeting chairman, however, vowed to push ahead in hopes of reaching an agreement. Meanwhile, a sixth country ratified a separate treaty on the weapons.
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U.S., Russia Agree on Path for New Arms Cuts
By Cole Harvey
At their inaugural meeting April 1, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to launch bilateral talks aimed at concluding a successor agreement to the 1991 START no later than the end of the year. START is scheduled to expire Dec. 5. Top U.S. and Russian negotiators began the talks in Rome on April 24.
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Steinmeier Calls for U.S. to Withdraw Nukes
By Oliver Meier
In an unprecedented statement for a German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier last month called for the withdrawal of the U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in his country. Steinmeier
told the German magazine Der Spiegel April 10 that “these weapons are militarily obsolete today” and promised that he would take steps to ensure that the remaining U.S. warheads “are removed
from Germany.”
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Presidents Back U.S.-Russian Civil Nuclear Pact
By Daniel Horner
President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have agreed to move ahead with a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement between their countries, but a senior Department of State official said the Obama administration may need some time to address congressional concerns about the pact.
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N. Korea Launches Rocket, Renounces Talks
By Peter Crail
North Korea’s long anticipated rocket launch April 5 set off a chain of events resulting in international sanctions on North Korean firms and Pyongyang’s withdrawal from six-way talks to end its nuclear weapons program.
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World Powers Invite Iran to Nuclear Talks
By Peter Crail
The United States and five other world powers in April invited Iran to renewed talks to address international concerns over Tehran’s nuclear program. The move came as Washington was finalizing a new Iran policy, which U.S. officials have indicated will include diplomatic outreach to Tehran. During an April 5 speech on arms control in Prague, President Barack Obama said his administration “will seek engagement with Iran based upon mutual interests and mutual respect.”
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Gates Reorienting Missile Defense Programs
By Cole Harvey
The U.S. missile defense program would be refocused and its overall spending would decline under the Obama administration’s fiscal year 2010 budget request, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said April 6. At a press conference, Gates said he intends to reorganize the program around short-range missile defense and efforts to counter “rogue” states.
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Part of GNEP Officially Canceled
By Daniel Horner
The Department of Energy last month announced it had ended a key part of the Bush administration’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) but said it is “considering options” for continuing the effort’s international component.
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GAO Details Nuclear Aid to Terrorism Sponsors
By Scott Miller
Four countries the Department of State has designated as sponsors of terrorism received a total of $55 million in nuclear technical assistance under an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) program between 1997 and 2007, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
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National Ignition Facility Completed
By Scott Miller
The National Ignition Facility (NIF), a central component of U.S. scientific research and stockpile stewardship, has been completed, the Department of Energy announced March 31. The NIF has been under construction at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California since May 1997.
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