Top Obama Administration officials are continuing to push for U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), although getting enough Republican support for ratification remains an uphill battle. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Rose Gottemoeller, speaking at the “Nuclear Weapons Testing: History, Progress, Challenges” conference hosted by the United States Institute of Peace, said ratification is a key to decreasing U.S. nuclear reliance and ensuring that terrorists do not intercept U.S. weapons, adding that the New START ratification process – which involved officials answering more than 1,000 questions – could serve as a template for moving the CTBT forward. “With an emphasis on a healthy, open dialogue, rather than a timeline, we are working with the Senate to re-familiarize the members with this treaty,” Gottemoeller said. “I know that it is the official sport in Washington, but I would ask people to refrain from counting votes right now. Our first priority is education, and our focus should be on the hard work that goes into any Senate consideration of the treaty.” She said briefings, hearings and lab trips could help re-inform senators about the CTBT.
In his remarks at the conference, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz touted the success of the stockpile stewardship program in making testing unnecessary. “[T]he United States continues to observe, of course, its nuclear test explosion moratorium in place since 1992,” Moniz said. "Today, we can say with even greater certainty that we can meet the challenges of maintaining our stockpile with continued scientific leadership, not nuclear testing….Our lab directors believe that they actually understand more about our nuclear weapons work now than during the period of nuclear testing.”
Drafted in 1996, the CTBT is aimed at prohibiting nuclear explosions anywhere, anytime, and must be signed by Israel, Iran, the U.S., Pakistan, India, North Korea, China and Egypt, to enter into force. 163 countries have ratified the treaty. Moniz added that the U.S. is committed to building bipartisan support for the CTBT as well as a monitoring and verification regime in conjunction with CTBT. Almost 90 percent of CTBT-outlined installed monitoring systems are certifiably installed across the globe, and 89 countries are part of the system, Moniz sai, noting that along with a certified radionuclide laboratory, 35 of 37 IMS systems planned for the U.S. are fully functional and certified by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization.
