A number of organizations that work on nuclear weapons issues attended the PrepCom. Reaching Critical Will is following the events at the PrepCom, including posting government statements online. Physicians for Social Responsibility posted regular updates about the PrepCom here. Want to share your experiences at the PrepCom? Post a comment or link to your report back in the comments sections.

At this year’s PrepCom, US Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, the lead negotiator for an agreement to replace the expiring START treaty on nuclear weapons reductions with Russia, presented a message from President Obama at the UN:

I am pleased to send my best wishes for a successful meeting to all those gathered here today.

One
month ago in Prague, I reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). As I said then, the United
States believes that the NPT’s framework is sound: countries with
nuclear weapons will move toward disarmament, countries without nuclear
weapons will not acquire them, and all countries can have access to
peaceful nuclear energy.

While we agree on this framework, we
must strengthen the NPT to deal effectively with the threat of nuclear
weapons and nuclear terrorism. Action is needed to improve verification
and compliance with the NPT and to foster the responsible and widest
possible use of nuclear energy by all states.

To seek the peace
and security of a world free of nuclear weapons, in Prague, I committed
the United States to take a number of initial steps in this direction.
Through cooperation and shared understanding, I am hopeful that we will
strengthen the pillars of the NPT and restore confidence in its
credibility and effectiveness.

I recognize that differences
are inevitable and that NPT parties will not always view each element
of the treaty in the same way. But we must define ourselves not by our
differences, but by our readiness to pursue dialogue and hard work to
ensure the NPT continues to make an enduring contribution to
international peace and security.

Again, please accept my thanks
for your hard work on building a better, more secure future and my best
wishes for a successful meeting.

Gottemoeller's statement went on to affirm the commitment by the US and Russia to achieve stockpile reductions, seek US ratification of the CTBT and work with other countries to bring them on board, seek negotiation of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, enhance nonproliferation efforts and host a Global Summit on Nuclear Security, and strengthen the NPT.

Below are excerpts from analysis and press releases issued by many organizations in response to the Commission's report. Want to chime in? In the comments section you can share your thoughts or post a link to how your organization reacted.

From Physicians for Social Responsibility:

In 2008 the Congress established a bipartisan commission to review the
strategic posture of the United States.  The commission’s findings
released today lack the vision necessary to begin immediate and sharp
reductions in nuclear weapons by all states that possess them.

The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability had this to say:

The
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability finds Congressionally mandated
Nuclear Posture Report supports more money and less accountability.

The
Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States
released a report today that fails to support President Obama’s
commitment to move towards a world free of nuclear weapons and contains
proposals that would undermine his vision and nonproliferation efforts.

Analysis from the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation:

As one might expect given the diverse make-up of the Commission, the
final report offers a mixture of good and bad recommendations. The
report uneasily straddles two competing visions. One vision seeks to
reduce the role played by nuclear weapons in U.S. national security
policy. The other vision stresses that nuclear weapons remain as
important today as ever before.

Peace Action West reacts:

…Today, the Commission issued its findings in a report that failed to
embrace the opportunity to help chart a path towards a world free of
nuclear weapons.

Additionally, Wired's Danger Room and the Federation of American Scientists offered their insights.

Nuclear testing fuels the arms race and undermines the non-proliferation regime by allowing nations to develop deadlier weapons and enabling new nuclear weapons states to emerge. Additionally, nuclear testing poses serious threats to the environment and our health. US ratification of the CTBT would help strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and enhance global security.

President Obama could choose any number of officials to lead CTBT ratification, so Biden's anticipated appointment would send a firm message about his commitment to eliminating the nuclear threat. Placing the vice-president at the crux of CTBT ratification not only demonstrates it is a top priority for the administration, it also indicates the Obama administration is willing to invest its strongest resources to combat the obstacles lying on the road ahead. Biden, a minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the CTBT failed ratification in 1999, is well-versed in how the Senate works and how to address anticipated challenges to win the 67 Senate votes needed for ratification. According to the Washington Post,

“A senior Obama administration official said yesterday that the “first order of business” will be a comprehensive review of all the issues. These will include the two elements that helped defeat the treaty last time: the ability to verify that no underground nuclear tests are taking place and that the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons will remain reliable without further testing.

“A lot of these issues have more clear answers than they had in 1999,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter. He could not speculate on timing, noting that among the reasons the pact lost last time was that the vote was rushed by the Republican leadership before public support could be developed.”

A July 2002 National Academy of Science report affirms that testing is not necessary for maintaining existing nuclear arms and lays to rest concerns about verifying that countries are not cheating and conducting nuclear tests. The US has observed a nuclear testing moratorium since 1992 while successfully maintaining a reliable nuclear stockpile.

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.

Their agreement comes while the clock ticks down to the expiration of START in December of this year, creating an urgent need for a follow-on agreement to START. The historic 1991 START agreement allowed both Russian and the US to reduce their stockpiles and contained provisions that allowed for inspections and verification efforts.

With more than 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world today — and the US and Russia accounting for about 95 percent of those weapons – the pursuit of a new agreement by the two countries shows a reaffirmation of the importance of arms control measures to help make the world safer from nuclear weapons. Large stockpiles today only increase the risk of accidental launches or theft.

The joint statement by Obama and Medvedev also contained commitments to work on other positive steps to strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime. These steps include: negotiations for a verifiable treaty to end the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons, preventing nuclear terrorism, and US ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Here are some highlights from their joint statement:

We also discussed nuclear arms control and reduction. As leaders of the two largest nuclear weapons states, we agreed to work together to fulfill our obligations under Article VI of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and demonstrate leadership in reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world. We committed our two countries to achieving a nuclear free world, while recognizing that this long-term goal will require a new emphasis on arms control and conflict resolution measures, and their full implementation by all concerned nations. We agreed to pursue new and verifiable reductions in our strategic offensive arsenals in a step-by-step process, beginning by replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new, legally-binding treaty. We are instructing our negotiators to start talks immediately on this new treaty and to report on results achieved in working out the new agreement by July.

We intend to carry out joint efforts to strengthen the international regime for nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. In this regard we strongly support the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and are committed to its further strengthening. Together, we seek to secure nuclear weapons and materials…. We will deepen cooperation to combat nuclear terrorism. We will seek to further promote the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, which now unites 75 countries. We also support international negotiations for a verifiable treaty to end the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. As a key measure of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, we underscored the importance of the entering into force the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. In this respect, President Obama confirmed his commitment to work for American ratification of this Treaty.

We, the leaders of Russia and the United States, are ready to move beyond Cold War mentalities and chart a fresh start in relations between our two countries. In just a few months we have worked hard to establish a new tone in our relations. Now it is time to get down to business and translate our warm words into actual achievements of benefit to Russia, the United States, and all those around the world interested in peace and prosperity.

The White House’s Office of Press Secretary also more positive statements about the meeting:

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:
My colleague enumerated what we think is a very significant breakthrough — namely, instructions to negotiators to begin the firming up of a verifiable, legally binding follow-on to the START agreement, which obviously will allow us to maintain very important verification measures after the end of this year, provided that we meet the goal laid out by the Presidents.

But the issues, as my colleague suggested by talking about the second statement that was released today, did not stop there. I would just say that the President was very forward-leaning as it relates to his fundamental interests and his fundamental belief that the biggest threat the country faces, our country faces, is a nuclear weapon in the hands of a terrorist. So he leaned very far forward on nonproliferation goals.

He also made very clear that we continue to remain committed to the goal of locking down all loose fissile material within the next four years. That's something that we'll want to work very closely with our Russian colleagues on.