State of the Union -- Nuclear Policy Edition

While our world faces many challenges, no issue is more fundamental to the security of all nations and the peace of the world than the future of nuclear weapons.  During the Cold War, we feared an all-out nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. Thankfully, we have outlived these fears. In an irony of history, however, the risk of a nuclear attack has risen—even as the threat of global nuclear war has fallen.

More nations have acquired these most violent of weapons, and the technology to build them is more easily obtained than ever before.  Terrorist groups, led by Al Qaeda, are determined to buy, build, or steal the capability to kill millions. Our efforts to contain these dangers center on a fragile global non-proliferation regime. Continued transgressions against that regime show us that the center cannot hold—and risk loosing anarchy upon the world.

As the only power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States of America has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it.  Building on the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, I traveled to Prague last May with the certainty and conviction that America should seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. I recognized then, as I recognize today, that we may not achieve this goal in my lifetime, even as we witness its growing urgency.

That urgency, however, is not reason for despair. The answers to our problems are within our reach if we act boldly and wisely.

Our first priority is to negotiate with Russia and ratify a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty – or START.  President Medvedev and I began this process almost a year ago, and negotiators have worked for countless hours, giving necessary care to difficult details. I am confident that, within the next few weeks, I will sign a verifiable treaty that substantially reduces the nuclear arsenals of both nations.

I will then present the completed treaty to the Senate for ratification and ask this nation’s legislators to join me in demonstrating U.S. leadership on arms control and nonproliferation.  Decreasing the number of nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia will decrease the likelihood that terrorists acquire these weapons.  Ratification will show the world that the United States is serious about creating a world without nuclear weapons with all its attendant benefits.

Some Republican Senators have informed me that they will only vote for a new START if it is accompanied by a significant program to modernize our nuclear deterrent.  I am willing to work with my Senate colleagues from both parties throughout this process, but make no mistake: START is in America’s national security interest with or without other changes. Of that, I am sure.

That conviction goes hand in hand, however, with a willingness to compromise and an understanding of the world’s realities. Although our goal should be a world without nuclear weapons, I have made clear that, as long as these weapons exist, the United States will maintain a safe, secure, and effective arsenal to deter any adversary and to guarantee the defense of our allies.

Congress will soon receive my budget, which will request substantial increases in funding for a robust nuclear weapons complex. We must ensure that the best scientists in the world maintain the safety and of our nuclear weapons arsenal.  My budget would also increase funding to ensure the continued success of our proven and reliable life extension program. But let me be clear:  my budget will not include unnecessary new military capabilities that serve defense manufacturers and not the security of the American people.

As our second priority, we must end Cold War thinking.  When I receive the recommendations of the upcoming Nuclear Posture Review, I will act to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy.  Recognize that these changes will make us more secure, not less.  Some missions currently assigned to nuclear weapons would be better served by conventional alternatives.  The United States of America has no intention to use nuclear weapons.  We maintain our arsenal to deter the use of nuclear weapons against the American people and our allies.

Our third priority is to strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as a basis for cooperation.

The treaty remains the foundation of the nuclear nonproliferation regime.  Its basic bargain—that nuclear weapons states move toward eliminating these weapons while non-nuclear weapons make no move toward acquiring them, pursuing only peaceful nuclear energy—is sound.

As I have made clear, America is prepared to move toward disarmament through a new START and a visionary Nuclear Posture Review.  I also remain committed to ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and negotiating a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty.  America must also be prepared to provide more support for civil nuclear cooperation, including the creation of an international fuel bank, so that countries can access peaceful power without increasing the risks of nuclear weapons development.  Our nation will make these commitments with the expectation that other countries will also live up to their obligations.  The fundamental bargain of nonproliferation will work only if the world obeys its rules and punishes its transgressors.

But, I am not naive.  I realize that some countries will break the rules.  The international community must respond, and it has.  North Korea faces increased isolation, and stronger, vigorously enforced sanctions. The international community is more united, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated. As Iran's leaders continue to ignore their obligations, have no doubt:  they too will face growing consequences.  The global community of peaceful nations cannot and will not tolerate attempts to disrupt the world stability with the most powerful weapons humanity has ever known.

At the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty’s Review Conference this year, we must ensure that strengthened verification and enforcement are top priorities so that more countries do not follow the lead of Iran and North Korea, calculating incorrectly that a nuclear program is a shortcut to international power or a substitute for infrastructure, economic growth, or human rights.

Finally, we must ensure that terrorists never acquire a nuclear weapon. A single nuclear weapon or “dirty bomb” in their hands could unleash catastrophic destruction. Al Qaeda has made their nuclear intentions clear and these intentions are facilitated by the unsecured nuclear material across the globe. America faces no more grave or more urgent threat.

In April, the United States will host a Nuclear Security Summit that will bring together 44 nations with a single goal:  to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years, so that they may never fall to terrorists.  The Summit will be one of many steps we take to secure nuclear materials.  We will build on the success of Senator Lugar’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program with Russia. Cooperation can make reduced global threats a reality.

2010 is a year of many challenges but also of many opportunities.  The United States will seize every opportunity to confront the greatest danger to the American people. Along the way, we will overcome every challenge to a world free of its most dangerous weapons.