Time is dwindling for the Obama Administration to make a push for Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, but Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said yesterday that she’s not giving up on one of the pillars of President Obama’s nuclear security agenda. The Administration has made little visible progress on the CTBT in recent years as officials have focused on educating the Senate—and the public—on the treaty, and many observers have suggested it will be difficult to convince the Senate to ratify the treaty before the end of President Obama’s second term. “I’m not going to tell you exactly when I think it’s going to happen. I do want to tell you that I’m looking at the next two years and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a real opportunity here. Let’s go for it,’” Gottemoeller said at the Carnegie Nuclear Policy Conference.
Gottemoeller and National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz emphasized yesterday that the dynamics surrounding the treaty have changed since it was defeated in the Senate in 1999. Not only is the treaty’s monitor and verification system more mature, Klotz noted that the Stockpile Stewardship Program gives the NNSA the confidence that the nation’s nuclear arsenal can be maintained without nuclear testing. “The reality is the United States is going to have to step up to ratify this treaty” to help propel other remaining countries to do the same, Klotz said. “That won’t happen until 67 Senators are convinced that it is not only in our national interest but in the interest of international stability that this treaty enters into force. It should’ve come to that decision a long time ago. Hopefully with the education effort we can take and as others show good example, they’ll come around to that.”
