Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Obama and Russian President Medvedev signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) on April 8 to reduce both countries’ large nuclear arsenals. New START also provides for verification measures such as on-site inspections and data exchanges. The treaty includes the following reductions:

* 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads
* 800 total deployed and non-deployed missiles and bombers
* 700 deployed missiles and bombers

Now the treaty needs the support of 67 senators in order to be ratified and enter into force. To hit that threshold, at least 8 Republican senators will need to support New START.

Update: The Committee vote is scheduled for this Tuesday, August 3rd. If the treaty gets enough bipartisan support in the Committee, it could go to the full Senate for a vote as early as September.

Coalition partners can go to our New START page for updated resources and tools. It’s important that we all push our supporters to keep contacting their Senators, and telling them to vote Yes on New START.

If you are not already a coalition partner, and want to see what you can do to help, visit our list of local and national organizations. You can click on the name of the organization and be directed to its website to see how to take action or find resources on New START.

On the April 5 anniversary of President Obama’s speech from Prague, the Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Free World delivered a letter signed by more than 100 faith, peace, and arms control organizations. As part of his speech from Prague, President Obama stated that negotiating a new nuclear weapons reduction treaty between the U.S. and Russia “will set the stage for further cuts, and we will seek to include all nuclear weapons states in this endeavor.” The coalition’s letter asks that the president use the occasion of the April Nuclear Security Summit to announce a new summit on nuclear disarmament in 2011. The letter can be viewed here.

The Campaign is continuing to collect signatures from endorsing organizations and will redeliver the letter in May around the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. Organizations can sign on to the letter here.

Countries pledged to take specific actions to contribute to the four year goal of securing vulnerable nuclear material during the summit. Ukraine has announced it will give up its highly enriched uranium in the next two years. Chile shipped its 40 pounds of highly enriched uranium to the US for safekeeping last month. South Korea will host a follow up Nuclear Security Summit in 2012 providing an opportunity to ensure progress is being made.

Analysis of the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Request

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

“Proposed DoE funding also includes large increases for a facility that will expand plutonium production in Los Alamos, New Mexico and for a new highly enriched uranium production facility near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, each estimated to cost about $3 billion. The Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Project (CMRR) plutonium facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory increased from $97 million in FY 2010 to $225 million in FY 2011. Y-12’s Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) also increased to $115 million from $94 million in FY 2010.”

Click here to download a PDF of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation’s budget briefing book.

Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

Click here for ANA’s press release.

Nuclear Watch New Mexico

Click here for their blog post on the budget.

Project on Government Oversight

Click here for their blog post on the budget.

Tri-Valley CAREs

Click here for their press release.

Upcoming activities on nuclear weapons

1. For Peace and Human Needs: Nuclear Disarmament Now! is a new website with resources on activities and demonstrations being planned for the May NPT Review Conference. Hundreds of organizations from the U.S. and around the globe are taking new steps to renew the commitment to a nuclear free world. The website includes an online petition on nuclear disarmament.

2. Groundbreaking is expected in April for a major new production facility, the Kansas City Plant, that will be responsible for 85% of all components for possible new designs and/or half-century life extensions of existing U.S. nuclear weapons. Protests and demonstrations in Kansas City are currently being planned, just before the NPT Review Conference that begins May 3. Contact Nuclear Watch New Mexico for more information.

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjbrenchley/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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.

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.