> > Nuclear Zero Committee

Nuclear Zero Fact Sheet #3
President Obama's Nuclear Agenda

(Adapted from NY Times, July 5, 2009)

These are some of President Obama's completed and planned steps for arms control and disarmament . Their success, Mr. Obama argues, would help realize his goal of a nuclear-free world. Most were generally endorsed in the UN Security Council resolution adopted September 24, 2009 at a meeting of heads of state chaired by Mr. Obama.

Canceling New U.S. Warheads. Early on, Mr. Obama ended research on the Reliable Replacement Warhead, a program begun in the Bush years to make new generations of arms. However, plans for nuclear warhead modernization remain under discussion in the administration, and there is an ongoing "lifetime extension program".

Locking Up Loose Nuclear Weapons. In Prague, in April 2009, Mr. Obama vowed to secure "tall vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years"t as a way to fight nuclear terrorism. A Harvard analysis says the budget request for now is too small "to implement such a plan."

Negotiating Arms Reductions with Moscow. Mr. Obama wants a new treaty this year that would reduce each side's strategic (long-range) deployed nuclear forces to roughly 1600 permitted warheads from the current ceiling of 2100, as a first step to deeper cuts.

Ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The U.S. has signed but not ratified the Treaty, which would ban nuclear testing as a way to end arms innovation. In Prague, Mr. Obama vowed to "immediately and aggressively" pursue ratification, moving the Treaty closer to global completion.

Strengthening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The 1968 accord seeks to halt the spread of nuclear arms and over the decades almost all states have joined, including some that gave up nuclear weapons programs. It has suffered from cheating by some nations and a failure by the nuclear weapon states to meet their disarmament obligation. Mr. Obama wants more aid for international atomic inspectors, new ways to punish cheaters and new fueling methods for peaceful nuclear power that lower the risk of arms proliferation. He also has acknowledged that the United States and other nuclear weapon states must meet their disarmament commitments.

Negotiating a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. A Fissile treaty would ban making fuel for nuclear arms. It would cap the size of arsenals by countries that are still producing such material, including non-NPT states India, Pakistan, and possibly Israel. It would also subject all states with nuclear arsenals to intrusive inspections, helping to lay the foundation for progress toward verified elimination.