Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
12/12/2014
A State Department official during this week’s Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons called on countries, non-governmental organizations and academics to help the U.S. generate the trust and verification tools needed to bring about further worldwide nuclear reductions. Speaking on Dec. 9, the second and final day of the conference, Amb. Adam Scheinman, Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation, highlighted the 85 percent reduction of the U.S. nuclear stockpile below its Cold War peak, the de-alerting of nuclear bombers, the open-seas targeting of intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and the ongoing de-MIRVing of all U.S. ICBMs.
A ‘Global Enterprise’
A statement by U.S. non-governmental organizations attending the conference echoed Scheinman’s calls for worldwide collaboration, urging the approximately 800 diplomats and 150 civil society representatives attending the conference to prioritize nuclear disarmament as a global enterprise. Authored by the Arms Control Association (ACA), Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists, Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Union of Concerned Scientists, a joint statement cites poor follow-through on the consensus action plan developed at the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference (RevCon), pointing to the prompt alert status of many Russian and U.S. ICBMs, ongoing nuclear modernization in the U.S., Russia, France, the U.K. and China, and the stagnation of arms treaty negotiations, among other elements. Kingston Reif this week wrote an email to NS&D Monitor confirming that he presented to the conference an abbreviated version of the statement.
Titled “Make Disarmament ‘A Global Enterprise,’” the statement calls for requiring nuclear states attending the 2015 NPT RevCon to explain the would-be effects of nuclear war plans and to describe “how they believe the use of hundreds of such weapons would be consistent with humanitarian law and the laws of war as some nuclear-armed states claim.” The joint statement also pushes for accelerating U.S.-Russian nuclear cuts, freezing other nations’ nuclear stockpiles, and more frequent convening of disarmament summits. It proposes the establishment of a high-level conference near the Aug. 6 and 9 anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whereby states could “concretely” announce actions they would take to reduce the threat of nuclear weapon use, to freeze or draw down stockpiles, to decrease the role of nuclear weapons and to make their nuclear programs more transparent.
The statement also calls for entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, citing the harmful effects of nuclear testing. The statement was published about a week after past and current U.S. officials, including incoming House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), in an L.A. Times article called for resuming U.S. nuclear testing alongside modernization. “You don’t know how a car performs unless you turn the key over,” Thornberry was quoted as saying. “Why would we accept anything less from a weapon that provides the foundation for which all our national security is based on?”
U.S. and U.K. Only P5 States to Attend
The U.S. and U.K. were the only P5 states that attended the third Humanitarian Impact Conference, geared toward illustrating the grave effects that a nuclear detonation would have on the environment, climate, health, social order, human development and the economy. Scheinman cited recent Russian balks on arms control, pointing to President Barack Obama’s June 2013 bilateral proposal to pursue warhead reductions of up to one-third below New START levels. Scheinman said a “willing partner and conducive strategic environment” are needed to undertake further arms reductions. Russia has not engaged on Obama’s offer.
Modernization Called ‘Senseless’
Delivering a message on behalf of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Angela Kane, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, decried what she called the “senselessness” of nuclear modernization funding while poverty, climate change, violent extremism and accumulation of conventional arms persist. She said the conference was essential in discrediting the notion that nuclear weapons constitute a rational response to rising international tensions or a hallmark of international prestige. “Possession does not prevent international disputes from occurring, but it makes conflicts more dangerous,” she stated in her prepared message. “Maintaining forces on alert does not provide safety, but it increases the likelihood of accidents. Upholding doctrines of nuclear deterrence does not counter proliferation, but it makes the weapons more desirable. Growing ranks of nuclear armed-States does not ensure global stability, but instead undermines it.”
‘Growing Political Will’ to Pursue Disarmament
Scheinman struck an optimistic tone that disarmament could proceed. “As we can see from this conference, we collectively have the growing political will to pursue a practical disarmament agenda,” Scheinman said. “We must also have a practical way to do it. … We look forward to expanding our efforts on this front in the coming weeks and months. The United States wants and needs your help to find and create the ways to trust and verify further nuclear reductions.” The closing conference statement authored by the Austrian government states that the “overwhelming majority” of NPT parties expect the 2015 RevCon to consider the Humanitarian Impact Conference in determining the next steps toward a world free of nuclear weapons.
