What He Said

President Obama’s campaign platform did address the issue of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, and the President has repeatedly voiced a commitment to a nuclear weapons free world (someday). In his campaign, Obama committed to both reducing and securing existing nuclear stockpiles, negotiating a global ban on the production of fissile material, preventing the development of new nuclear weapons, taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair trigger alert, and ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). In his first 100 days, President Obama has remained publicly committed to global nuclear abolition. But as John Feffer of Foreign Policy in Focus argues, President Obama’s day-to-day policies do not reflect this message; rather, the policies indicate the goal of a nuclear free world, but “not yet.”

Rhetoric v. Concrete Action

Publicly, President Obama continues to be committed to his nonproliferation and disarmament campaign promises. In his famous Prague speech, the President states that “the existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War.” This speech enumerated concrete steps for the U.S. to take to lead the international community in realizing a nuclear free world, including decreasing the role of nuclear weapons in national security, negotiating a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and a treaty to ban the production of fissile material, strengthening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), and aggressively pursuing U.S. ratification of the CTBT. In May, President Obama met with former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former Secretary of Defense William Perry, and former Senator Sam Nunn, authors of the NY Times editorial calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons, to discuss U.S. nonproliferation policy. President Obama remarked that this meeting helped to create a program that will set the stage for America to take leadership in nonproliferation and disarmament.¹

While many of President Obama’s steps towards nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament have to date been somewhat rhetorical, the administration has taken some small but concrete steps towards fulfilling the goal of a nuclear weapons free world, particularly via the NPT preparatory conference and through disarmament negotiations with Russia. The previous administration was characterized by an allergy to participation in the NPT preparatory and review conferences. President Obama has already begun to shift the role of the U.S. to work with the global community, calling for a global effort to strengthen the NPT and stating that the U.S. must take the lead role. Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller participated in the NPT Review Conference preparatory meeting during the first two weeks of May, and she reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to the NPT. She also called for the development of effective compliance mechanisms to be a priority at the review conference and urged non-NPT members India, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea to join the treaty. President Obama also opened negotiations with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in April to renew START before it expires in December. In a joint statement, both presidents expressed a commitment to fulfill NPT obligations and further reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles. In May, U.S. and Russian officials met to discuss a replacement treaty for START 1, which expires on December 5, 2009. Both the U.S. and Russia are committed to pursuing intensive negotiations in order to have a new treaty in place before START 1 expires.

Obama’s Grade: B+

It is difficult to fully judge President Obama’s commitment to a nuclear weapons free world in such a short time, especially when the economy, the war in Iraq, Al Qaeda and the Taliban, instability in Pakistan, and violence in Gaza have been forefront on the agenda. Considering the need for global support, in his first 100 days, President Obama has certainly made great strides in presenting to the public his support for nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. By initiating negotiations with Russia on a new disarmament treaty and participating in the NPT preparatory conference, the concrete steps made by the Obama administration provide evidence that their commitment is not simply lip service. However, until we see some results, we cannot know how serious these negotiations are and whether there will be some real, positive change. One concern is the Department of Energy budget, which provides $6.4 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). It is difficult to envision serious reductions in nuclear weapons if the NNSA is still receiving such a large share of the budget.

If President Obama is serious about the U.S. taking a lead role in nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, he needs to ensure that negotiations for a new START treaty do not dominate his arms control agenda, squeezing out his commitment to achieving a nuclear free world. If the new treaty materially reduces the number of weapons, that would be a useful step. But it is important to avoid ratifying the long-term existence of Russia’s huge nuclear arsenal, which includes 3-10,000 weapons that would not be counted at all in a new strategic agreement. President Obama must also do everything in his power to ensure that the U.S. ratifies the CTBT, encourage other states to ratify the CTBT, and begin serious negotiations on a treaty to ban the production of fissile material. Finally, the recent nuclear test by North Korea and Iran’s missile testing must take a prominent place in U.S. foreign policy to prevent a 21st century arms race.

Written by Holly Lindamood, Program Director and Research Associate
Daisy Alliance