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Intl Nonpro Commission Report Released Today
Travis | Dec 15, 2009 |
0 The International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament today released its big report, “Eliminating Nuclear Threats: A Practical Agenda for Global Policymakers.” At over 300 pages and with 76 recommendations and loads of supplemental data, this report is an arms control abbondanza. The commissioners are ballers, too.
Here are five of the report’s more significant recommendations…
-- The setting of a medium term ‘minimization point’ target - to be reached by 2025 - of a world with less than 2,000 nuclear warheads - a more than 90 percent reduction of present nuclear arsenals.
-- A full package of recommended outcomes for the 2010 NPT Review Conference, including a proposed new 20-point statement on disarmament, tough new measures against proliferation, and a suggested approach to moving forward the issue of a weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East.
-- A plea for early movement by the nuclear-armed states on refining their nuclear doctrine to limit the role of nuclear weapons and give unequivocal assurances that they will not be used against non-nuclear weapons states, and for a rethinking of existing approaches to ‘extended deterrence’ .
-- Support for the further development of civil nuclear energy, subject to effective security, safeguards and safety measures, and with much more attention being paid to proliferation resistant technologies and to creating disincentives to states building their own enrichment and reprocessing facilities.
-- Strong support for the continued delegitimisation of nuclear weapons, and the ultimate achievement of a completely nuclear weapon free world, while recognizing the many difficult conditions that will have to be satisfied before the movement from minimum levels to zero is achievable.
And here is some of the report’s language on extended deterrence:
There seems no doubt that, for the foreseeable future, Washington’s own nuclear deterrent will continue to be extended to its allies to protect them against any nuclear attack or threat they might experience. This should be well understood by other international actors and not seen as either destabilizing, or as in itself inhibiting further movement down the disarmament path. But clearly Washington will need to continue to closely consult with its allies as it moves in that direction, reassuring them that they will not be exposed to any greater risk of nuclear attack as a result of its own arsenal being reduced.
[snip]
Clearly, again, such allies will need to be very strongly reassured that they will not be exposed to unacceptable risk if the U.S. changes its posture in the way described. The concern for the U.S., and the wider international community, will be that if they are not so reassured some at least will be tempted to build a nuclear deterrent of their own.
It ought to be possible for that reassurance to be given. Three lines of response suggest themselves. The first is that “extended deterrence” does not have to mean “extended nuclear deterrence”…The second response is that nuclear weapons are simply not as useable as those who focus on their ultimate deterrent utility would like to believe they are…A third line of response is that the U.S. and all of the allies to whom it extends nuclear deterrence have obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to support the total elimination of all nuclear arsenals.
Nukes on a Blog, CTBT, START, Posture Review, New START, Extended Deterrence (all tags)
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