Events

The United States stationed thousands of nuclear weapons in Europe during the Cold War in order to support the common defense of NATO members in Europe. While the environment in which the NATO nuclear mission finds its purpose has changed since the Cold War and the number of U.S. nuclear weapons stationed in Europe has been scaled back significantly, concerns about Russian tactical nuclear forces, the Iranian nuclear program, and the political importance of nuclear weapons to NATO solidarity raise important questions about how NATO should proceed as it outlines its nuclear mission in the 2010 Strategic Concept.

USIP held an informative discussion with Rose Gottemoeller, assistant secretary of state for verification, compliance, and implementation, on the verification provisions of the New START agreement.  Her remarks were followed by an expert panel discussion on the implications of verification for the START ratification process and a lively Q & A session with the audience.

The issue of nuclear arms control and disarmament is gaining momentum on the global agenda with the Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Washington on April 12-13, 2010 and the 8th Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in New York from May 3-28. Please join USIP and the George Washington Elliott School as Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala, USIP Jennings Randolph senior visiting scholar, discusses the role of nuclear weapon-free zones and their contribution to the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

On October 26, 2009, USIP held a panel discussion with Amb. Linton Brooks, Joseph Cirincione, and Thomas Scheber on next steps for the START process and the START Follow-on Treaty.

On July 27, 2009, a panel of experts reviewed the destructive potential of a nuclear weapon, and discussed the role of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as keystone agreements to halt the spread of nuclear weapons technology.

Three senior experts who advised the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States and supported its deliberations will discuss their views on the report's findings and recommendations.