Arms Control Organizations [

The intergovernmental organizations for arms control are the following:

 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
 Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which has other functions
besides arms control
 Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
Organization (CTBTO Prep Com)
 Conference on Disarmament (CD)
 United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA)
 United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
 the now disbanded United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC), the successor to United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM)
 failed proposal for Organization
There are also numerous non-governmental organizations that promote a global reduction in
nuclear arms and offer research and analysis about U.S. nuclear weapons policy.
 Pre-eminent among these organizations is the Arms Control Association, founded in 1971 to
promote public understanding of and support for arms control. Others include:
 Federation of American Scientists (FAS) -- founded in 1945 as the Federation of Atomic
Scientists by veterans of the Manhattan Project.
 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament—a leading disarmament organization in the United
Kingdom, founded in 1957.
 Peace Action—formerly SANE (the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy), founded in 1957
 Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) -- founded by Bernard Lown in 1961.
 Council for a Livable World—founded in 1962 by physicist Leó Szilárd and other scientists
who believed that nuclear weapons should be controlled and eventually eliminated.
 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) -- founded in 1966
 Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) -- founded in 1969 by faculty and students at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 Arms Control Association—founded in 1971.
 Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation—founded in 1980 as a sister organization to
the Council for a Livable World.
 International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) -- founded in 1981.
 Alliance for Nuclear Accountability—a national network of organizations working to address
issues of nuclear weapons production and waste cleanup, founded in 1987 as the Military
Production Network.
 Global Zero—founded in 2008

It is estimated that yearly, over 1.5 trillion United States dollars are spent on military expenditures
worldwide (2.7% of World GDP). This represents a decline from 1990 when military expenditures
made up 4% of world GDP. Part of this goes to the procurement of military hardware and services
from the military industry.
The combined arms sales of the top 100 largest arms producing companies amounted to an estimated
$395 billion in 2012 according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
In 2004 over $30 billion were spent in the international arms trade (a figure that excludes domestic
sales of arms).
According to SIPRI, the volume of international transfers of major weapons in 2010–14 was 16 per
cent higher than in 2005–2009.

1
The five biggest exporters in 2010–14 were the United States, Russia, China, Germany and France,
and the five biggest importers were India, Saudi Arabia, China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and
Pakistan.
The Small Arms Survey estimates 875 million small arms in circulation worldwide, produced by
more than 1,000 companies from nearly 100 countries.
The link between politics and the arms trade can result in the development of what U.S.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower described as a military-industrial complex, where the armed forces,
commerce, and politics become closely linked, similarly to the European defense procurement.
History
Armstrong became one of the first international arms dealers, selling his weapon systems to
governments across the world from Brazil to Japan.
Due to the carnage of World War I, arms traders began to be regarded with odium as "merchants of
death" and were accused of having instigated and perpetuated the war in order to maximize their
profits from arms sales.
The volume of the arms trade greatly increased during the 20th century, and it began to be used as a
political tool, especially during the Cold War where the United States and the USSR supplied
weapons to their proxies across the world, particularly third world countries
Sectors
1. Land-based weapons
This category includes everything from light arms and landmines to heavy artillery, and the majority
of producers are small. Many are located in third world countries. International trade in
handguns, machine guns, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and other relatively inexpensive weapons
is substantial. There is relatively little regulation at the international level, and as a result, many
weapons fall into the hands of organized crime, rebel forces, terrorists, or regimes under sanctions.
2. Small arms
The Control Arms Campaign, founded by Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the International
Action Network on Small Arms, estimated in 2003 that there are over 639 million small arms in
circulation, and that over 1,135 companies based in more than 98 different countries manufacture
small arms as well as their various components and ammunition.
3. Aerospace systems
Encompassing military aircraft (both land-based and naval aviation), conventional missiles, and
military satellites, this is the most technologically advanced sector of the market. It is also the least
competitive from an economic standpoint, with a handful of companies dominating the entire
market.. The largest military contract in history, signed in October 2001, involved the development of
the Joint Strike Fighter.
4. Naval systems
Some of the world's great powers maintain substantial naval forces to provide a global presence, with
the largest nations possessing aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and advanced anti-air defense
systems. The vast majority of military ships are conventionally powered, but some are nuclear-
powered. There is also a large global market in second-hand naval vessels, generally purchased by
developing countries from Western governments.
World's largest defense budgets
International arms transfers
SIPRI has identified 60 countries as exporters of major weapons in 2010–14. The top 5 exporters
during the period were responsible for almost 74 per cent of all arms exports. The composition of the
five largest exporters of arms changed between 2005–2009 and 2010–14: while the USA and Russia
remained by far the largest exporters, China narrowly, but notably, replaced Germany as the third
largest exporter, and the United Kingdom dropped outside the top 5. The top 5 exported 14 per cent
more arms in 2010–14 than the top 5 in 2005–2009.
2
In 2010–14, 153 countries (about three-quarters of all countries) imported major weapons. The top 5
recipients accounted for 33 per cent of the total arms imports during the period India, China and the
UAE were among the top 5 importers in both 2005–2009 and 2010–14. Asia and Oceania accounted
for nearly half of imports in 2010–14, followed by the Middle East, Europe, the Americas and Africa
SIPRI also identified seven groups of rebel forces as importers of major weapons in 2010–14, but
none of them accounted for more than 0.02 per cent of total deliveries.
World's largest arms exporters
The units in this table are so-called trend indicator values expressed in millions of U.S. dollars at
1990s prices. These values do not represent real financial flows but are a crude instrument to estimate
volumes of arms transfers, regardless of the contracted prices, which can be as low as zero in the case
of military aid. Ordered by descending 2014 values. The information is from the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute.
2014 rank Supplier Arms exports
1 United States 10194
2 Russia 5971
3 China 1978
4 France 1200
5 Germany 1110
6 United Kingdom 1083
7 Israel 1074
8 Spain 824
9 Italy 786
10 Ukraine 664
11 Netherlands 561
12 Sweden 394
13 Switzerland 350
14 Turkey 274
15 Canada 234

20
01
– Suppli 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
12 er 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
Ra
nk
Unit 590 522 569 686 670 745 800 628 665 864 998 876
1
ed States 8 9 8 6 0 3 3 8 8 1 4 0
Rus 589 570 523 617 513 509 542 595 557 603 787 800
2
sia 6 5 6 8 4 5 6 3 5 9 4 3
Chi 916 171 110 208 256 319 250 243 234 120 119
3 850
na 3 5 0 7 4 0 2 0 6 3

3
 20
01
– Suppli 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
12 er 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
Ra
nk
Fran 129 136 134 221 172 164 243 199 186 183 243 113
4
ce 7 8 5 9 4 3 2 4 5 4 7 9
Ger 509 665 292 303 597 430 586 100 142 135 178
5 499
many 0 3 4 3
Unit
311 442 200 290 553 728 330 320 201 484 134
6 ed 700
4
Kingdom
Ukr 136 106 741 131 103 855 101 982 102 105 107 863
7
aine 8 8 6 9 8 2 4 0
191 526 314 538 432 366 454 383 104 847
8 Italy 880 806
6
Spai 120 150 108 843 590 610 998 513 927 720
9 7 56
n
Israe 239 342 209 583 118 132 530 545 503 531 533
10 203
l 7 6
Swe 426 341 212 774 502 684 417 514 806 686 496
11 216
den
Can 170 263 265 226 226 334 227 169 258 292 276
12 129
ada
Swit 193 157 181 243 246 285 301 482 255 137 297 210
13
zerland
Sout 220 163 225 183
14 165 N/A 100 29 48 94 80 95
h Korea
As of 2008, Britain has become the world's leading developer of arms with British company BAE
Systems. Defense group BAE Systems is the first company outside the United States to reach the top
position, thanks to a deal with the Pentagon for mine-resistant vehicles to be used in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
World's largest arms importers
The units in this table are so-called trend indicator values expressed in millions of U.S. dollars. These
values do not represent real financial flows but are a crude instrument to estimate volumes of arms
transfers, regardless of the contracted prices, which can be as low as zero in the case of military aid.
2014 rank Recipient Arms imports
1 Saudi Arabia 4243[15]
2 India 2629[15][16]
3 Turkey 1550
4 China 1357[17]

4
 2014 rank Recipient Arms imports
5 Indonesia 1200
6 Vietnam 1058
7 Taiwan 1039
8 United Arab Emirates 1031
9 Australia 842
10 Oman 738
11 Singapore 717
12 Pakistan 659
13 Azerbaijan 640
14 Iraq 627
15 Morocco 594
List of major weapon manufacturers
Major arms industry corporations by nation
Largest arms industry companies
This is a list of the world's largest arms manufacturers and other military service companies who
profit the most from the War economy, their origin is shown as well. The information is based on a
list published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute for 2013. The list provided by
the SIPRI excludes companies based in China.
Arms
sales
Arms Total
as
sales sales Total Total
Rank Company Country a%
(US$ (US$ profit employment
of
m.) m.)
total
sales
Lockheed United
1 35 490 45 500 78 2 981 115 000
Martin States
United
2 Boeing 30 700 86 623 35 4 585 168 400
States
United
3 BAE Systems 26 820 28 406 94 275 84 600
Kingdom
United
4 Raytheon 21 950 23 706 93 2 013 63 000
States
Northrop United
5 20 200 24 661 82 1 952 65 300
Grumman States
General United
6 18 660 31 218 60 2 357 96 000
Dynamics States
European
7 EADS 15 740 78 693 20 1 959 144 060
Union

5
 Arms
sales
Arms Total
as
sales sales Total Total
Rank Company Country a%
(US$ (US$ profit employment
of
m.) m.)
total
sales
United
United
8 Technologies 11 900 62 626 19 5 721 212 000
States
Corporation
9 Finmeccanica Italy 10 560 21 292 50 98 63 840
10 Thales Group France 10 370 18 850 55 761 65 190
Arms control
Oscar Arias Sanchez President of Costa Rica (awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts
to end civil wars across Central America through the Esquipulas II Accord) has stated:
“ When a country decides to invest in arms, rather than in education, housing, the
environment, and health services for its people, it is depriving a whole generation of its
right to prosperity and happiness. We have produced one firearm for every ten inhabitants
of this planet, and yet we have not bothered to end hunger when such a feat is well within
our reach. Our international regulations allow almost three-quarters of all global arms
sales to pour into the developing world with no binding international guidelines
whatsoever. Our regulations do not hold countries accountable for what is done with the
weapons they sell, even when the probable use of such weapons is obvious.[24] ”
Notable international arms control treaties
 New START Treaty, signed by Russia and the United States in April 2010, entered into force in
February 2011
 Arms Trade Treaty, concluded in 2013, entered into force on 24 December 2014.

The European Council stated to the United Nations General Assembly:

“ We are committed to upholding, implementing and further strengthening the
multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation framework in the fight against threats
which are tending to escape the control of national sovereignty, the challenges deriving
from destabilizing accumulation and spread of small arms and light weapons, from illicit or
irresponsible arms trade, and from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which
are creating new and growing hot-spots of international tension. In this regard, the EU
welcomes the growing support in all parts of the world for an International Arms Trade
Treaty and is firmly committed to this process
Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers
to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total
elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear arms. General and Complete
Disarmament was defined by the United Nations General Assembly as the elimination of all WMD,
coupled with the “balanced reduction of armed forces and conventional armaments, based on the
principle of undiminished security of the parties with a view to promoting or enhancing stability at a
lower military level, taking into account the need of all States to protect their security

6
Nuclear disarmament

United States and USSR/Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles, 1945-2006. These numbers include
warheads not actively deployed, including those on reserve status or scheduled for dismantlement.
Stockpile totals do not necessarily reflect nuclear capabilities since they ignore size, range, type, and
delivery mode.
Major nuclear disarmament groups include
 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,
 Greenpeace and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.
There have been many large anti-nuclear demonstrations and protests. On June 12, 1982, one million
people demonstrated in New York City's Central Park against nuclear weapons and for an end to
the cold war arms race. It was the largest anti-nuclear protest and the largest political demonstration
in American history
 In 1945 in the New Mexico desert, American scientists conducted "Trinity," the first nuclear
weapons test, marking the beginning of the atomic age.
 Towards the end of World War II, the Little Boy device was detonated over the Japanese city
of Hiroshima. Exploding with a yield equivalent to 12,500 tonnes of TNT, the blast and
thermal wave of the bomb destroyed nearly 50,000 buildings (including the headquarters of
the 2nd General Army and Fifth Division) and killed approximately 75,000 people, among
them 20,000 Japanese soldiers and 20,000 Koreans.
 Detonation of the Fat Man device exploded over the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later
on 9 August 1945, destroying 60% of the city and killing approximately 35,000 people,
among them 23,200-28,200 Japanese civilian munitions workers and 150 Japanese
soldiers. Subsequently, the world’s nuclear weapons stockpiles grew.
 Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at
Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean in the summer of 1946. Its purpose was to test the effect of
nuclear weapons on naval ships. Pressure to cancel Operation Crossroads came from scientists
and diplomats. Manhattan Project scientists argued that further nuclear testing was
unnecessary and environmentally dangerous.
 Radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing was first drawn to public attention in 1954
when a Hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific contaminated the crew of the Japanese fishing
boat Lucky Dragon. One of the fishermen died in Japan seven months later. The incident
caused widespread concern around the world and "provided a decisive impetus for the
emergence of the anti-nuclear weapons movement in many countries". The anti-nuclear
weapons movement grew rapidly because for many people the atomic bomb "encapsulated the
very worst direction in which society was moving".
Nuclear disarmament movement
 On 12 December 1982, 30,000 women held hands around the 6 miles (9.7 km) perimeter of
the RAF Greenham Common base, in protest against the decision to site American cruise
missiles there.

7
 Peace movements emerged in Japan and in 1954 they converged to form a unified "Japanese
Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs". Japanese opposition to the Pacific nuclear
weapons tests was widespread, and "an estimated 35 million signatures were collected on
petitions calling for bans on nuclear weapons".
 In the United Kingdom, the first Aldermaston March organized by the Direct Action
Committee and supported by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament took place
at Easter 1958, when several thousand people marched for four days from Trafalgar Square,
London, to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment close to Aldermaston in Berkshire,
England, to demonstrate their opposition to nuclear weapons. CND organized Aldermaston
marches into the late 1960s when tens of thousands of people took part in the four-day events.
 On November 1, 1961, at the height of the Cold War, about 50,000 women brought together
by Women Strike for Peace marched in 60 cities in the United States to demonstrate
against nuclear weapons. It was the largest national women's peace protest of the 20th
century.
 In 1958, Linus Pauling and his wife presented the United Nations with the petition signed by
more than 11,000 scientists calling for an end to nuclear-weapon testing. The "Baby Tooth
Survey," headed by Dr Louise Reiss, demonstrated conclusively in 1961 that above-ground
nuclear testing posed significant public health risks in the form of radioactive fallout spread
primarily via milk from cows that had ingested contaminated grass. Public pressure and the
research results subsequently led to a moratorium on above-ground nuclear weapons testing,
followed by the Partial Test Ban Treaty, signed in 1963 by John F. Kennedy and Nikita
Khrushchev. On the day that the treaty went into force, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded
Pauling the Nobel Peace Prize, describing him as "Linus Carl Pauling, who ever since 1946
has campaigned ceaselessly, not only against nuclear weapons tests, not only against the
spread of these armaments, not only against their very use, but against all warfare as a means
of solving international conflicts." Pauling started the International League of Humanists in
1974. He was president of the scientific advisory board of the World Union for Protection of
Life and also one of the signatories of the Dubrovnik-Philadelphia Statement.
 In the 1980s, a popular movement for nuclear disarmament again gained strength in the light
of the weapons build-up and aggressive rhetoric of US President Ronald Reagan. Reagan had
"a world free of nuclear weapons" as his personal mission, and was largely scorned for this in
Europe. His officials tried to stop such talks but Reagan was able to start discussions on
nuclear disarmament with Soviet Union. He changed the name "SALT" (Strategic Arms
Limitation Talks) to "START" (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks.
 On June 3, 1981, Thomas launched the White House Peace Vigil in Washington, D.C. He was
later joined on the vigil by anti-nuclear activists Concepcion Picciotto and Ellen Benjamin.
 On June 12, 1982, one million people demonstrated in New York City's Central Park against
nuclear weapons and for an end to the cold war arms race. It was the largest anti-
nuclear protest and the largest political demonstration in American history.
 International Day of Nuclear Disarmament protests were held on June 20, 1983 at 50 sites
across the United States. In 1986, hundreds of people walked from Los ngeles to Washington
DC in the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament.
 There were many Nevada Desert Experience protests and peace camps at the Nevada Test
Site during the 1980s and 1990s.
 On May 1, 2005, 40,000 anti-nuclear/anti-war protesters marched past the United Nations in
New York, 60 years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was the
largest anti-nuclear rally in the U.S. for several decades. In 2008, 2009, and 2010, there have
been protests about, and campaigns against, several new nuclear reactor proposals in the
United States.
8
  There is an annual protest against U.S. nuclear weapons research at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory in California and in the 2007 protest, 64 people were arrested.
 There have been a series of protests at the Nevada Test Site and in the April 2007 Nevada
Desert Experience protest, 39 people were cited by police.
 There have been anti-nuclear protests at Naval Base Kitsap for many years, and several in
2008.
World Peace Council
One of the earliest peace[ organizations to emerge after the Second World War was the World Peace
Council, which was directed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union through the Soviet Peace
Committee. Its origins lay in the Communist Information Bureau's (Cominform) doctrine, put
forward 1947, that the world was divided between peace-loving progressive forces led by the Soviet
Union and warmongering capitalist countries led by the United States.
In 1949, Cominform directed that peace "should now become the pivot of the entire activity of the
Communist Parties", and most western Communist parties followed this policy. Lawrence Wittner, a
historian of the post-war peace movement, argues that the Soviet Union devoted great efforts to the
promotion of the WPC in the early post-war years because it feared an American attack and American
superiority of arms at a time when the USA possessed the atom bomb but the Soviet Union had not
yet developed it.
In 1950, the WPC launched its Stockholm Appeal[ calling for the absolute prohibition of nuclear
weapons. The campaign won popular support, collecting, it is said, 560 million signatures in Europe,
most from socialist countries, including 10 million in France (including that of the young Jacques
Chirac), and 155 million signatures in the Soviet Union – the entire adult population. Several non-
aligned peace groups who had distanced themselves from the WPC advised their supporters not to
sign the Appeal.
The WPC had uneasy relations with the non-aligned peace movement and has been described as
being caught in contradictions as "it sought to become a broad world movement while being
instrumental zed increasingly to serve foreign policy in the Soviet Union and nominally socialist
countries." From the 1950s until the late 1980s it tried to use non-aligned peace organizations to
spread the Soviet point of view. At first there was limited co-operation between such groups and the
WPC, but western delegates who tried to criticize the Soviet Union or the WPC's silence about
Russian armaments were often shouted down at WPC conferences and by the early 1960s they had
dissociated themselves from the WPC.
Arms reduction treaties

9
United States and USSR/Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles, 1945-2014. These numbers include
warheads not actively deployed, including those on reserve status or scheduled for dismantlement.
Stockpile totals do not necessarily reflect nuclear capabilities since they ignore size, range, type, and
delivery mode.
Key treaties
 Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) 1963: Prohibited all testing of nuclear weapons except
underground.
 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)—signed 1968, came into force 1970: An international
treaty (currently with 189 member states) to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. The treaty has
three main pillars: nonproliferation, disarmament, and the right to peacefully use nuclear
technology.
 Interim Agreement on Offensive Arms (SALT I) 1972: The Soviet Union and the United States
agreed to a freeze in the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-
launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) that they would deploy.
 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) 1972: The United States and Soviet Union could deploy
ABM interceptors at two sites, each with up to 100 ground-based launchers for ABM interceptor
missiles. In a 1974 Protocol, the US and Soviet Union agreed to only deploy an ABM system to
one site.
 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II) 1979: Replacing SALT I, SALT II limited both the
Soviet Union and the United States to an equal number of ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers, and
heavy bombers. Also placed limits on Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRVS).
 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) 1987: Created a global ban on short- and long-
range nuclear weapons systems, as well as an intrusive verification regime.
 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I)—signed 1991, ratified 1994: Limited long-range
nuclear forces in the United States and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union
to 6,000 attributed warheads on 1,600 ballistic missiles and bombers.
 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II (START II)—signed 1993, never put into force: START II
was a bilateral agreement between the US and Russia which attempted to commit each side to
deploy no more than 3,000 to 3,500 warheads by December 2007 and also included a prohibition
against deploying multiple independent reentry vehicles (MIRVs) on intercontinental ballistic
missiles (ICBMs)
 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT or Moscow Treaty)—signed 2002, into force 2003:
A very loose treaty that is often criticized by arms control advocates for its ambiguity and lack of
depth, Russia and the United States agreed to reduce their "strategic nuclear warheads" (a term
that remain undefined in the treaty) to between 1,700 and 2,200 by 2012. Was superseded by
New Start Treaty in 2010.
 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)—signed 1996, not yet in force: The CTBT is an
international treaty (currently with 181 state signatures and 148 state ratifications) that bans all
nuclear explosions in all environments. While the treaty is not in force, Russia has not tested a
nuclear weapon since 1990 and the United States has not since 1992.
 New START Treaty—signed 2010, into force in 2011: replaces SORT treaty, reduces deployed
nuclear warheads by about half, will remain into force until at least 2021
Only one country has been known to ever dismantle their nuclear arsenal completely—
the apartheid government of South Africa apparently developed half a dozen crude fission
weapons during the 1980s, but they were dismantled in the early 1990s.
United Nations
In its landmark resolution 1653 of 1961, "Declaration on the prohibition of the use of nuclear and
thermo-nuclear weapons," the UN General Assembly stated that use of nuclear weaponry “would

10
exceed even the scope of war and cause indiscriminate suffering and destruction to mankind and
civilization and, as such, is contrary to the rules of international law and to the laws of humanity”.
The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) is a department of the United Nations
Secretariat established in January 1998 as part of the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
plan to reform the UN as presented in his report to the General Assembly in July 1997.
Its goal is to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and the strengthening of the
disarmament regimes in respect to other weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological
weapons. It also promotes disarmament efforts in the area of conventional weapons, especially land
mines and small arms, which are often the weapons of choice in contemporary conflicts.
Following the retirement of Sergio Duarte in February 2012, Angela Kane was appointed as the new
High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.
U.S. nuclear policy
Despite a general trend toward disarmament in the early 1990s, the George W. Bush
administration repeatedly pushed to fund policies that would allegedly make nuclear weapons more
usable in the post–Cold War environment. To date the U.S. Congress has refused to fund many of
these policies. However, some feel that even considering such programs harms the credibility of the
United States as a proponent of nonproliferation.
Recent controversial U.S. nuclear policies
 Reliable Replacement Warhead Program (RRW): This program seeks to replace existing
warheads with a smaller number of warhead types designed to be easier to maintain without
testing. Critics charge that this would lead to a new generation of nuclear weapons and would
increase pressures to test. Congress has not funded this program.
 Complex Transformation: Complex transformation, formerly known as Complex 2030, is an
effort to shrink the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and restore the ability to produce “pits” the
fissile cores of the primaries of U.S. thermonuclear weapons. Critics see it as an upgrade to the
entire nuclear weapons complex to support the production and maintenance of the new generation
of nuclear weapons. Congress has not funded this program.
 Nuclear bunker buster: Formally known as the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), this
program aimed to modify an existing gravity bomb to penetrate into soil and rock in order to
destroy underground targets. Critics argue that this would lower the threshold for use of nuclear
weapons. Congress did not fund this proposal, which was later withdrawn.
 Missile Defense: Formerly known as National Missile Defense, this program seeks to build a
network of interceptor missiles to protect the United States and its allies from incoming missiles,
including nuclear-armed missiles. Critics have argued that this would impede nuclear
disarmament and possibly stimulate a nuclear arms race. Elements of missile defense are being
deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, despite Russian opposition.
Former U.S. officials Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, Bill Perry, and Sam Nunn (aka 'The Gang of
Four' on Nuclear Deterrence)." proposed in January 2007 that the United States rededicate itself to
the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, concluding: "We endorse setting the goal of a world free of
nuclear weapons and working energetically on the actions required to achieve that goal." Arguing a
year later that "with nuclear weapons more widely available, deterrence is decreasingly effective and
increasingly hazardous," the authors concluded that although "it is tempting and easy to say we can't
get there from here, . . . we must chart a course” toward that goal." During his Presidential campaign,
U.S. President Elect Barack Obama pledged to "set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and
pursue it."
U.S. policy options for nuclear terrorism
The United States has taken the lead in ensuring that nuclear materials globally are properly
safeguarded. A popular program that has received bipartisan domestic support for over a decade is the
Cooperative Threat Reduction Program (CTR). While this program has been deemed a success, many
believe that its funding levels need to be increased so as to ensure that all dangerous nuclear materials
11
 are secured in the most expeditious manner possible. The CTR program has led to several other
innovative and important nonproliferation programs that need to continue to be a budget priority in
order to ensure that nuclear weapons do not spread to actors hostile to the United States.
Key programs:
 Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR): The CTR program provides funding to help Russia
secure materials that might be used in nuclear or chemical weapons as well as to
dismantle weapons of mass destruction and their associated infrastructure in Russia.
 Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI): Expanding on the success of the CTR, the GTRI
will expand nuclear weapons and material securing and dismantlement activities to states outside
of the former Soviet Union.
Other states
While the vast majority of states have adhered to the stipulations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty, a few states have either refused to sign the treaty or have pursued nuclear weapons programs
while not being members of the treaty. Many view the pursuit of nuclear weapons by these states as a
threat to nonproliferation and world peace, and therefore seek policies to discourage the spread of
nuclear weapons to these states, a few of which are often described by the US as "rogue states".
 Declared nuclear weapon states not party to the NPT
 Indian nuclear weapons: 80–100 active warheads
 Pakistani nuclear weapons: 90–110 active warheads
 North Korean nuclear weapons: <10 active warheads
 Undeclared nuclear weapon states not party to the NPT:
 Israeli nuclear weapons: 75–200 active warheads
 Nuclear weapon states not party to the NPT that disarmed and joined the NPT as non-
nuclear weapons states:
 South African nuclear weapons: disarmed from 1989–1993
 Former Soviet states that disarmed and joined the NPT as non-nuclear weapons
states:
 Belarus
 Kazakhstan
 Ukraine
 Non-nuclear weapon states party to the NPT currently accused of seeking nuclear
weapons:
 Iran
 Non-nuclear weapon states party to the NPT who acknowledged and
eliminated past nuclear weapons programs:
 Libya
Recent developments
Nuclear tipping point (a movie must watch)
Global Zero is an international non-partisan group of 300 world leaders dedicated to achieving nuclear
disarmament. The initiative, launched in December 2008, promotes a phased withdrawal and
verification for the destruction of all devices held by official and unofficial members of the nuclear club.
The Global Zero campaign works toward building an international consensus and a sustained global
movement of leaders and citizens for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Goals include the initiation
of United States-Russia bilateral negotiations for reductions to 1,000 total warheads each and
commitments from the other key nuclear weapons countries to participate in multilateral negotiations for
phased reductions of nuclear arsenals.
Global Zero works to expand the diplomatic dialogue with key governments and continue to develop
policy proposals on the critical issues related to the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The International Conference on Nuclear Disarmament took place in Oslo in February, 2008, and was
organized by The Government of Norway, the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Hoover Institute. The
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 Conference was entitled achieving the Vision of a World Free of Nuclear Weapons and had the
purpose of building consensus between nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states in relation
to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
The Tehran International Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation took place in Tehran in
April 2010. The conference was held shortly after the signing of the New START, and resulted in a
call of action toward eliminating all nuclear weapons. Representatives from 60 countries were invited to
the conference. Non-governmental organizations were also present.
Among the prominent figures who have called for the abolition of nuclear weapons are "the
philosopher Bertrand Russell, the entertainer Steve Allen, CNN’s Ted Turner, former Senator Claiborne
Pell, Notre Dame president Theodore Hesburg, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai
Lama".
Others have argued that nuclear weapons have made the world relatively safer, with peace
through deterrence and through the stability–instability paradox, including in south Asia. Kenneth
Waltz has argued that nuclear weapons have created a nuclear peace, and further nuclear weapon
proliferation might even help avoid the large scale conventional wars that were so common prior to their
invention at the end of World War II. In the July 2012 issue of Foreign Affairs Waltz took issue with the
view of most U.S., European, and Israeli, commentators and policymakers that a nuclear-armed Iran
would be unacceptable. Instead Waltz argues that it would probably be the best possible outcome, as it
would restore stability to the Middle East by balancing Israel's regional monopoly on nuclear weapons.
Professor John Mueller of Ohio State University, the author of Atomic Obsession, has also dismissed the
need to interfere with Iran's nuclear program and expressed that arms control measures are
counterproductive. During a 2010 lecture at the University of Missouri, which was broadcast by C-
SPAN, Dr. Mueller has also argued that the threat from nuclear weapons, especially nuclear terrorism,
has been exaggerated, both in the popular media and by officials.
Former Secretary Kissinger says there is a new danger, which cannot be addressed by deterrence: "The
classical notion of deterrence was that there was some consequences before which aggressors and
evildoers would recoil. In a world of suicide bombers, that calculation doesn’t operate in any
comparable way". George Shultz has said, "If you think of the people who are doing suicide attacks, and
people like that get a nuclear weapon, they are almost by definition not deferrable".

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