26 March 2010

START Reflects U.S. Intent to Create Nuclear-Free World

 

Clinton says efforts to discourage Iranian and North Korean weapons proliferation show U.S. intent to abolish nuclear weapons.

Clinton says efforts to discourage Iranian and North Korean weapons proliferation show U.S. intent to abolish nuclear weapons.

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — The landmark agreement between Russia and the United States to reduce their nuclear-weapon stockpiles by 30 percent marks a commitment by the Obama administration to its long-term goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says.

Speaking at the White House March 26 with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher, Clinton said the steps the Obama administration is taking to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, stop nuclear proliferation and advance nuclear security around the world mark “a very clear statement of intent” to follow through on its vision of a world without nuclear weapons.

The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will sign in Prague April 8 demonstrates that “the Cold War really is behind us, and these massive nuclear arsenals that both of our countries maintained as part of deterrence no longer have to be so big,” she said.

The new treaty is the first comprehensive deal to reduce nuclear arms since its predecessor was signed by the two former Cold War rivals in July 1991.

“We do not need such large arsenals to protect our nation and our allies against the two greatest dangers we face today, nuclear proliferation and terrorism,” Clinton said.

The treaty “shows the world, particularly states like Iran and North Korea, that one of our top priorities is to strengthen the global nonproliferation regime and keep nuclear materials out of the wrong hands,” and demonstrates the U.S. commitment for progress toward disarmament under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), she said.

President Obama has invited one of the largest gatherings of international leaders since the end of World War II to Washington April 12–13 to discuss preventing rogue regimes and violent extremists from obtaining nuclear materials, and both the United States and Russia “come with more credibility” because of the treaty, Clinton said.

In May, the international community will also gather in New York for the NPT Review Conference, which Clinton said will discuss how to bring the nuclear nonproliferation regime “into the 21st century, when we know unfortunately that terrorist groups are seeking nuclear weapons.”

As the United States and Russia “uphold our commitments and strengthen the NPT, we can hold others accountable to do the same,” Clinton said.

“I’m going to reaffirm our commitment to convincing countries that the path of nonproliferation, of lowering the temperature when it comes to nuclear weapons, which we are doing with this treaty, is the path they want to be on,” she said.

Secretary Gates said having a nuclear arsenal is still “an important pillar of the U.S. defense posture” as both a deterrent to potential adversaries and to provide reassurance to “more than two dozen allies and partners who rely on our nuclear umbrella for their security.” But “it is clear that we can accomplish these goals with fewer nuclear weapons.”

“The journey we have taken, from being one misstep away from mutual assured destruction to the substantial arms reductions of this new agreement, is testimony to just how much the world has changed, and all of the opportunities we still have to make our planet safer and more secure,” he said.

“I don’t think anybody expects us to come anywhere close to zero nuclear weapons any time soon,” Gates said, but the new treaty and efforts to control fissile material and strengthen the NPT “are concrete steps to move in that direction.”

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)