United States

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The Obama administration is taking office against a background of increasing calls for progress on a range of non-proliferation and disarmament initiatives, including CTBT ratification by the US with a view to achieving the Treaty's entry into force; fissile material talks; and further deep cuts in existing nuclear arsenals.

In her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Hillary Clinton gives an early indication of the likely direction of an Obama Administration. On 5 April 2009, President Obama set out his administration's approach to nuclear disarmament, saying that the US would lead efforts to make progress towards a nuclear weapon-free world.

Special UN Security Council session, September 2009

President Obama will chair a special session of the UN Security Council at heads of state level on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament on Thursday 24 September. The US, which holds the Presidency of the UN Security Council this month, has circulated a draft Security Council resolution calling on all countries with nuclear weapons to get rid of them.

President Obama will also make his debut address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday 23 September. The Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty will also be taking place at the UN from 23 - 25 September. Acronym Institute Executive Director Rebecca Johnson will be at the UN in New York for the meetings.

Latest Coverage from Acronym

• Nuclear Testing and Proliferation - an Inextricable Connection, by Thomas Graham, Jr. and David Hafemeister, Disarmament Diplomacy, No.91, Summer 2009
• Unfinished Business: Lessons from the CTBT Negotiations, by Rebecca Johnson, Disarmament Diplomacy, No.91, Summer 2009
• US-Russia Strategic Arms Talks, Nuclear Non-Proliferation News, Summer 2009
• Towards CTBT ratification, Nuclear Non-Proliferation News, Summer 2009
• Draft UN Security Council Resolution on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Nuclear Disarmament, 11 September 2009
• US - UAE Nuclear Cooperation, Disarmament News Review, Disarmament Diplomacy, No.91, Summer 2009

START TALKS, July 2009

• Nuclear powers come in from the cold, by Rebecca Johnson on the START negotiations, Comment is Free, www.guardian.co.uk, 7 July 2009
• Obama and Medvedev agree Framework for Strategic Arms Talks, Disarmament News Review, Disarmament Diplomacy, No.91, Summer 2009
• US-Russia Joint Understanding on strategic offensive arms, 8 July 2009

Carnegie Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference, April 2009

Acronym Institute Executive Director Dr Rebecca Johnson was part of a plenary panel on International Expectations of the Obama Administration, chaired by Naila Bolus of the Ploughshares Fund.

Transcripts, video and audio recordings of the panel are available from the CEIP website at:

• http://www.carnegieendowment.org/events/?fa=eventDetail&id=1301

New US Administration

Nuclear Policy

• US Under Secretary for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher comments on US deterrence posture, 30 July 2009
• US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton address to the Council on Foreign Relations, 15 July 2009
• President Obama calls for Non-Proliferation Summit, G8 press conference, 10 July 2009
• US - UAE Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher testimony, 8 July 2009
• President Obama speech on Nuclear Disarmament, Prague, 5 April 2009
• President Obama Inaugural Address, 21 January 2009
• White House Foreign Policy Objectives, 21 January 2009
• White House Defense Policy Objectives, 21 January 2009
• Hillary Clinton Nomination Hearings To Be Secretary of State, 13 January 2009
• US Chair Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry oped on New Directions for Foreign Relations, 13 January 2009
• US Defense Secretary Gates on Nuclear Deterrence, 28 October 2008
• Barack Obama speech on Nuclear Weapons and Diplomacy, 2 October 2008
• Democrat Presidential Candidate Barack Obama on Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policy, 26 May 2008

US-Russia Relations and START

• US-Russia Joint Understanding on strategic offensive arms, 8 July 2009
• Presidents Obama and Medvedev Press Conference, 6 July 2009
• Clinton / Lavrov press conference, 7 May 2009
• Joint Statement by Presidents Medvedev and Obama on strategic reductions, 1 April 2009
• Joint Statement by Presidents Medvedev and Obama, 1 April 2009
• US background briefings on Presidents Obama and Medvedev meeting, 1 April 2009
• US Secretary of State Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov meeting, 6 March 2009
• US Vice President Joseph Biden, Munich Security Conference, 7 February 2009

Relations with Iran

• US Secretary of State Clinton on Iran, 31 March 2009
• President Obama on US-Iran relations, 9 February 2009
• US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Iran, 3 February 2009
• US statement on Iran satellite launch, 3 February 2009

Policy on North Korea

• US Background briefing on North Korea, 15 July 2009
• US Special Representative Stephen W. Bosworth testimony on North Korea, 11 June 2009
• US Special Representative Stephen W. Bosworth comments on North Korea, 12 May 2009
• US Special Representative Stephen W. Bosworth comments on North Korea, 8 May 2009
• US Permanent Representative Rice on UN Presidential Statement on North Korea, 13 April 2009
• US Permanent Representative Rice on UN Presidential Statement on North Korea, 11 April 2009
• US Ambassador Rice on UN Security Council meeting on the DPRK rocket launch, 5 April 2009
• US Ambassador Bosworth briefing on North Korea, 3 April 2009
• US Ambassador Bosworth briefing on North Korea, 9 March 2009

Key Documents

• Toward a Nuclear-Free World, by George P Shultz, William J Perry, Henry A Kissinger and Sam Nunn, 15 January 2008
• A World Free of Nuclear Weapons, Wall Street Journal article by George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn, 4 January 2007

Disarmament Diplomacy

• Report I: A New Strategic Posture for the United States and a Nuclear Weapons Complex to Support it, Nuclear Weapons Complex Consolidation (NWCC) Policy Network, Disarmament Diplomacy, No.90, Spring 2009
• Report II: From Counterforce to Minimal Deterrence:
  A New Nuclear Policy on the Path Toward Eliminating Nuclear Weapons, Hans M. Kristensen, Robert S. Norris and Ivan Oelrich, Disarmament Diplomacy, No.90, Spring 2009
• US and Russian Public Opinion on Arms Control and Space Security, Nancy Gallagher, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No.87, Spring 2008
• Two Treaties to Contain Missile Proliferation, by Thomas Graham and Dinshaw Mistry, Proposes two multilateral approaches to curbing missile proliferation, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No.82, Spring 2006.
• The misbegotten US-India nuclear deal, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No.82, Spring 2006.
• National Security and Neo-Arms Control in the Bush Administration, by Jeffrey A. Larsen, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No.80, Autumn 2005
• From Arms Control to Cooperative Threat Reduction
  by Michael Krepon, Disarmament Diplomacy No.75, January/February 2004
• Federation of American Scientists reports removal of US nuclear weapons from the UK, 26 June 2008

For an archive of material on US nuclear policy including US-Russia relations go to: www.acronym.org.uk/start.

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