Summer 2010
With a push from UCS, the United States is finally taking serious steps to reduce the risks posed by nuclear weapons and weapon-usable material.
By Sean Meyer and Lisbeth Gronlund
U.S. nuclear weapons policy underwent a welcome shift in April 2010. The Obama administration released a Nuclear Posture Review that calls for positive policy changes. The United States and Russia signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which will reduce each country’s deployed long-range nuclear weapons to 1,550. And President Obama hosted a world summit aimed at securing vulnerable fissile material that can be used to make nuclear weapons.
These are arguably the most far-reaching changes to our nuclear weapons agenda since the end of the cold war, and UCS can share in the credit. Our analysis helped shape both the administration’s internal debate about policy and its new agenda.
New Threats Need a New Approach
Our first step was to transform the public’s misperceptions about the value of nuclear weapons. We have employed a variety of approaches to communicate the fact that nuclear weapons are a security liability because they do not protect us from terrorist attacks and they undercut our ability to prevent other countries from acquiring their own weapons.
For example, we brought prominent scientists together with evangelical and Catholic leaders to make the case for a dramatically different nuclear weapons policy. We also conducted local advertising campaigns to coincide with the presidential debates and national party conventions to remind the public of nuclear warheads’ unique destructive power.
At the same time, we promoted our 2008 report Toward True Security as the blueprint for a new direction in U.S. nuclear policy. UCS spearheaded a coalition of nonprofit organizations seeking to influence the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, coordinating meetings and other communications with key administration officials—several of whom later told us that our work helped secure a more positive outcome.
The Importance of Good Posture
| In this issue of Catalyst:
> The Weight of the Evidence |
Specifically, we pushed hard for the administration to restrict the role of U.S. nuclear weapons to deterrence against nuclear attack by other nations. The Review did not go that far; deterrence remains the “fundamental” (but not only) role of U.S. weapons. It did reflect our recommendation that the United States pledge not to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear country in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as well as our recommendation against building new nuclear weapons.
The positive steps taken in April set us on the path toward reducing the global threat posed by nuclear weapons, but we must ensure the nation stays on this path. UCS will work to solidify these new policies and push the administration to bring U.S. policy further in line with the reality of a world where nuclear weapons create grave risks to our security.
Sean Meyer is the project manager for the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy Initiative in the Global Security Program. Lisbeth Gronlund is senior scientist and co-director of the program.
Keep up to date on the latest developments in nuclear weapons policy, technology, and more by reading our blog at http://AllThingsNuclear.org.
