41. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: Next Steps
- Author:
- Thomas Jr. Graham and Christopher Chyba
- Publication Date:
- 07-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for International Security and Cooperation
- Abstract:
- Dr. Sid Drell: With the end of the Cold War there's been a major change in the U.S. nuclear weapons program, because the continuous cycle of developing and testing and deploying new warheads has ended. President George Bush announced in 1992 that we have no need for new nuclear weapons designs for deployment. It was this decision that, of course, opened the possibility of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which is why we now have a Stockpile Stewardship Program with the three requirements: we must maintain an enduring stockpile that's reliable, effective and safe for the indefinite future without nuclear explosive testing; we must maintain competence in nuclear weapons; and we must retain a technical capability and a manufacturing infrastructure in order to respond if required to any change in strategic circumstances. This will be one of the factors in our net assessment of whether to enter a CTBT.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation, International Cooperation, International Law, and Nuclear Weapons
- Political Geography:
- United States