President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima in May, the first by a sitting U.S. president, caps an administration that put nuclear disarmament back on the national agenda. Speaking in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the memorial to those killed by U.S. atomic bombs, President Obama reaffirmed a commitment to disarmament.
At the memorial, he said: “Among those nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them.”
As inspiring as those words are, the Obama administration has a mixed record on nuclear weapons. Since President Obama first called for disarmament in a speech in Prague in 2009, there has been some progress towards that goal. Still, we are disappointed that this president, who won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in part for his focus on nuclear issues, hasn’t done more.
A Mixed Track Record
This administration has had two major accomplishments in the disarmament arena. The New START treaty, negotiated with Russia in 2010, reduces the number of deployed nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Russia—which, between them, account for 90 percent of the world’s nuclear arsenal. The nuclear agreement with Iran provides for strict monitoring to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.
The trend lines for nuclear weapons are moving in the right direction.The U.S. nuclear arsenal is much smaller today than it was just a few decades ago. This trend represents success in both disarmament (decommissioning existing weapons and not building new ones) and nonproliferation (preventing additional countries and groups from getting nuclear materials). Our FCNL community, guided by a deep commitment to disarmament and the skilled tactics from lobbyist David Culp, has played a pivotal role in successes in both these areas.
Yet even the detonation of one “small” nuclear weapon would be devastating. So, more work remains.
President Obama took office riding a wave of heady idealism for hope and change. All too soon, however, external circumstances, internal politics, and a lack of grassroots support overshadowed the sense that complete disarmament was possible.
The belligerent foreign policy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, including the 2014 invasion of the Ukraine, stalled any further disarmament negotiations beyond the New START treaty. In the U.S., meanwhile, congressional hawks made it clear that every victory would come at a high price. The Senate overwhelmingly ratified the first START treaty with Russia in 1991. In 2010, the renewal of that treaty nearly failed, and more than one senator who supported it lost his re-election bid. And the most sustained reaction to President Obama’s disarmament stance came not from advocates for those policies but from the industries threatened by them.
As a result, President Obama enters the last months of his administration with a long list of disarmament opportunities not taken. In addition to the negotiation of further arsenal reductions with Russia, the list of unfinished business includes U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and removing U.S. weapons from hair-trigger alert.
Where We Are Now
The challenges for disarmament advocates today, however, are more than just a long to-do list. In three areas in particular, FCNL is working to keep U.S. nuclear policies from backtracking on even the modest gains of the past few years.
1.Halting Modernization of the Nuclear Arsenal
The U.S. military and its contractors are pushing for a major new building effort for nuclear weapons—a “modernization” program for the arsenal that would cost an estimated $1 trillion over 30 years. The next opportunity to halt the program comes in 2017, when a new administration will comprehensively review U.S. nuclear policy. FCNL is already talking with people likely to influence that review, regardless of the election’s outcome.
2. Blocking a New Nuclear Cruise Missile
Congress is already considering the first steps of the modernization project: building a new generation of nuclear cruise missiles. FCNL is working to block congressional approval of research funding for these weapons and hopes to eliminate funding entirely next year.
3. Funding to Prevent a “Dirty Bomb”
Today, the greatest nuclear danger comes from unsecured nuclear material falling into the hands of violent extremists. FCNL is working with congressional allies to increase funding for the programs that help secure nuclear stockpiles worldwide.
Progress Is Possible
The past eight years has demonstrated the challenges of progress on nuclear disarmament. At the same time, we’ve seen the power that constituent advocacy has to effect change —and the value of the focused, strategic lobbying that FCNL is known for.
To hear Joe Cirincione, head of the Ploughshares Fund, tell it, the nuclear deal with Iran might not have succeeded without FCNL. “You had lots of experts weighing in,” he told The Hill newspaper in May. “But experts don’t carry that many votes. You needed to have strong, disciplined, grassroots groups out there demonstrating support for the deal. And that’s where FCNL was so essential.”
In his speech at Hiroshima, President Obama imagined a new future: “a future in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare, but as the start of our own moral awakening.” He added, “We must change our mindset about war itself. To prevent conflict through diplomacy, and strive to end conflicts after they’ve begun.” FCNL shares this vision. It’s up to us—all of us—to keep it alive and moving forward in a new administration and Congress.
