An excerpt from President Obama’s speech on April 5, 2009

Yesterday in Prague, President Barack Obama made a groundbreaking speech in which he pledged “to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” His significant call for the elimination of nuclear weapons re-orients US nuclear policy, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive arms control agreements and of international cooperation.

President Obama’s agenda comes at a time when the nuclear threat is growing, rather than decreasing. His call for a nuclear weapon’s free world has the bipartisan support of a wide swath of political heavy-weights, including former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former Defense Secretary William Perry, and former Senators Sam Nunn and Chuck Hagel. According to polling, people around the globe also support achieving a nuclear weapons free world.

Here is a look at President Obama’s key proposals for combating the nuclear weapons threat.

Re-orienting US Security Strategies and Reducing Existing Stockpiles

President Obama called the existence of nuclear stockpiles “the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War.” He promised:

“To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy and urge others to do the same. Make no mistake: as long as these weapons exist, we will maintain a safe, secure and effective arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies – including the Czech Republic. But we will begin the work of reducing our arsenal. To reduce our warheads and stockpiles, we will negotiate a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia this year.”

Obama’s promise to reduce existing stockpiles and to create a follow-on to the START treaty comes on the heels of a joint statement released with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev last week. The Cold War ended nearly 20 years ago, and yet 95% of the existing 20,000 nuclear weapons belong to the over-sized arsenals of the United States and Russia. Reducing these nuclear stockpiles not only provides a significant opportunity to alter the worldwide nuclear landscape, it allows the US to reorient its own security strategy away from the tired policies of mutually assured destruction (MAD) and toward those that better fit the challenges of the 21st century. It also lends the US government credibility as it calls upon other nations to reduce their stockpiles and enter into international arms agreements.

While the Obama administration has yet to say how deep their reductions will be, the Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World is urging reductions down to 1,000 or fewer nuclear weapons. Additionally, our nuclear weapons stockpile is already “safe, secure and effective” and there is no need for further programs or proposals for new nuclear weapons to ensure they remain reliable. Last year, Congress rejected proposals for the Reliable Replacement Warhead, a new nuclear weapon.

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and Fissile Materials Ban

President Obama remarked:

“To achieve a global ban on nuclear testing, my Administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. After more than five decades of talks, it is time for the testing of nuclear weapons to finally be banned.

And to cut off the building blocks needed for a bomb, the United States will seek a new treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons. If we are serious about stopping the spread of these weapons, then we should put an end to the dedicated production of weapons grade materials that create them.”

The United States is a signatory to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, but has not ratified it. Over 140 other countries have. Nuclear weapons testing fuels the arms race by promoting the creation of newer, deadlier weapons. It also poses serious risks to the environment and our health. Ratification would reinforce the US’ commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in the eyes international community, while making official the US government’s observed moratorium on nuclear testing since 1992.

A fissile materials ban would have the added weight of enforcing a nuclear weapons free world by creating a verification mechanism that would prevent new countries from developing nuclear weapons.

Strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

President Obama promised:

“Second, together, we will strengthen the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a basis for cooperation.

The basic bargain is sound: countries with nuclear weapons will move toward disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire them; and all countries can access peaceful nuclear energy. To strengthen the Treaty, we should embrace several principles. We need more resources and authority to strengthen international inspections. We need real and immediate consequences for countries caught breaking the rules or trying to leave the Treaty without cause.”

For far too long, countries without nuclear weapons have waited for signs that the nuclear weapons states are serious about fulfilling their end of the bargain: working towards disarmament. Currently, 189 countries are party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, effectively committing themselves to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. President Obama’s clear commitment to a world without nuclear weapons reestablishes the US’s leadership role in the non-proliferation regime, a position that was badly damaged by the counterproductive nuclear weapons policies of the Bush Administration. While President Obama is right that achieving a nuclear weapons free world will take time, effective organizing can help ensure we reach it within our lifetimes.

Preventing Nuclear Terrorism

President Obama stated:

“Finally, we must ensure that terrorists never acquire a nuclear weapon.

This is the most immediate and extreme threat to global security. One terrorist with a nuclear weapon could unleash massive destruction. Al Qaeda has said that it seeks a bomb. And we know that there is unsecured nuclear material across the globe. To protect our people, we must act with a sense of purpose without delay.”

Obama’s speech provides a timeframe, planning to “secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years,” and to “build on our efforts to break up black markets, detect and intercept materials in transit, and use financial tools to disrupt this dangerous trade.” Again, recognizing that the effort to eliminate nuclear weapons cannot come from the US alone, he proposes institutionalizing efforts such as the Proliferation Security Initiative and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. He also proposes that the US host a Global Summit on Nuclear Security “within the next year.”

The threat of a nuclear weapon falling into terrorist hands is one of the most pressing risks nuclear weapons pose today. As former Cold Warriors Shultz, Perry, Kissinger and Nunn stated in their Wall Street Jounal OpEd, “Most alarmingly, the likelihood that nonstate terrorists will get their hands on nuclear weaponry is increasing. In today’s war waged on world order by terrorists, nuclear weapons are the ultimate means of mass  devastation. And non-state terrorist groups with nuclear weapons are conceptually  outside the bounds of a deterrent strategy and present difficult new security challenges.”

President’s Obama promise to secure existing stockpiles is an essential component of keeping the world safe, and his inclusion of a time-frame speaks both to the pressing nature of this issue and to his commitment to doing so. The US government has worked successfully with Russia in the past to secure weapons, and broader, deeper, multilateral cooperation will be needed to ensure future security.

How to Help

The greatest challenge to Obama’s groundbreaking agenda will likely come from Congress. Ratification of treaties, including the follow-on to START and the CTBT, will require a 2/3 majority in the Senate, which equals 67 votes. Congress will also need to approve funding for any programs that Obama proposes, such as the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. To ensure Obama’s agenda is implemented, we need to build congressional bipartisan support for these steps toward a nuclear weapons free world.

Urge your members of Congress to make America and the world safer by supporting Obama’s plan on nuclear weapons by clicking here. As the President said in his speech, “the voices for peace and progress must be raised together” for this call to eliminate nuclear weapons.

Click here for the full video of Obama’s speech or here to see the full transcript.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Blog, Obama on Nuclear Weapons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.