| Nuclear Security Project's Steps to a Safer World Issue1 #56332 George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn have enumerated and endorsed ten steps — practical measures that would themselves reduce nuclear dangers right away. |
Steps to a safer world
"The accelerating spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear know-how and nuclear material has brought us to a nuclear tipping point. We face a very real possibility that the deadliest weapons ever invented could fall into dangerous hands.
The steps we are taking now to address these threats are not adequate to the danger. With nuclear weapons more widely available, deterrence is decreasingly effective and increasingly hazardous.
Reassertion of the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and practical measures toward achieving that goal would be, and would be perceived as, a bold initiative consistent with America's moral heritage. The effort could have a profoundly positive impact on the security of future generations. Without the bold vision, the actions will not be perceived as fair or urgent. Without the actions, the vision will not be perceived as realistic or possible.
Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and former Senator Sam Nunn have enumerated and endorsed ten steps — practical measures that would themselves reduce nuclear dangers right away.
These steps are:
1. Changing the Cold War posture of deployed nuclear weapons to increase warning time and thereby reduce the danger of accidental or unauthorized use of a nuclear weapon.
2. Continuing to reduce substantially the size of nuclear forces in all states that possess them.
3. Eliminating short-range nuclear weapons designed to be forward-deployed.
4. Initiating a bipartisan process with the U.S. Senate, including understandings to increase confidence and provide for periodic review, to achieve ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, taking advantage of recent technical advances, and working to secure ratification by other key states.
5. Providing the highest possible standards of security for all stocks of weapons, weapons-usable plutonium, and highly enriched uranium everywhere in the world.
6. Getting control of the uranium enrichment process, combined with the guarantee that uranium for nuclear power reactors could be obtained at a reasonable price, first from the Nuclear Suppliers Group and then from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or other controlled international reserves. It will be necessary to deal with proliferation issues presented by spent fuel from reactors producing electricity.
7. Halting the production of fissile material for weapons globally; phasing out the use of highly enriched uranium in civil commerce and removing weapons-usable uranium from research facilities around the world and rendering the materials safe.
8. Redoubling our efforts to resolve regional confrontations and conflicts that give rise to new nuclear powers.
9. Ensuring that we have effective means to verify compliance with nuclear commitments and to counter nuclear-related conduct that is potentially threatening to the security for any state or peoples.
10. Intensive work with leaders of the countries in possession of nuclear weapons to turn the goal of a world without nuclear weapons into a joint enterprise."
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