WASHINGTON -- Among the most urgent tasks awaiting President-elect
George W. Bush is to take the lead in reducing nuclear dangers
worldwide. His administration and the new Congress owe it to the
country to utilize every practical and effective method available
to stop nuclear proliferation, including U.S. ratification of
the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
As long as the United States refuses to ratify the CTBT, it denies itself the benefits of the Treaty's extensive monitoring and on-site inspection provisions and it robs itself of the moral, political, and legal authority necessary to encourage other nations not to test. By itself, the CTBT cannot stop proliferation, but the U.S. cannot effectively fight the spread of nuclear weapons without it.
The Senate's partisan 1999 vote rejecting U.S. CTBT ratification raised serious doubts among our allies about the United States' global leadership role on nuclear non-proliferation. It has led many to believe that the United States is slipping towards "strategic unilateralism."
So as the new administration develops its test-ban policy, it must be careful not to make an unhealthy situation worse. Bush must first reassure the American people, the Congress and the international community that he does not intend to resume testing or to develop new types of "low-yield" nuclear weapons, which would require testing. He should not rule out consideration of CTBT ratification during his term.
The razor-thin outcome of the presidential race and the 50-50 split in the Senate should compel the new administration and Senate leaders to pursue a more bipartisan and deliberate approach to national security policy. The CTBT presents the new president with an opportunity to repair the damage from the 1999 Senate vote to rebuild the multilateral non-proliferation regime.
The Bush team should recognize that there is broad-based support for eventual reconsideration of the CTBT. Such moderates as Senators Chuck Hagel (R-Ne.) and Joseph Liebermanm (D-Conn.), have said that "a clear majority of the Senate has not given up hope of finding common ground in our quest for a sound and secure ban on nuclear testing."
Ratification of the CTBT sometime during the next four years may not be as farfetched as some may think. During the presidential campaign, Bush said he supported the existing nuclear test moratorium but opposed the CTBT. Some key members of Bush's foreign-policy team, including Vice-President elect Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense designate Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Advisor designate Condelezza Rice, are on record in opposition to the CTBT. But others, including Bush's choice for Secretary of State Colin Powell, are on record as supporting CTBT.
The incoming administration should pledge to carefully review the CTBT and related issues. The report earlier this month from former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Special Advisor to the President and the Secretary of State on the CTBT, General John Shalikashvili, which recommends ratification of the treaty, provides an excellent starting point for further deliberation on how to rebuild a bipartisan consensus on nuclear testing and non-proliferation.
It is certainly reasonable that the new administration should work to improve nuclear-test monitoring capabilities and seek test-site transparency measures that would increase confidence that others are not testing. After reviewing the key treaty-related issues and addressing the remaining concerns of senators, the President should consider pursuing Senate reconsideration of the CTBT.
The new president can ill-afford to ignore, let alone renounce, the United States' decades-long commitment to the comprehensive ban on nuclear tests. Later this year, those nations that have already ratified the CTBT, including some of our closest allies, will gather in New York to determine how to speed up the process of putting elements of the treaty in force. Between now and then, the world will be watching how Bush meets this challenge.
Daryl Kimball is the Director of The Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers, a non-partisan alliance of 16 of the nation's leading nuclear arms control and non-proliferation organizations. The views and analysis expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of every member of the Coalition.
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