Time for the U.S. to End Nuclear Test Explosions WorldWide
Published in The Times Record on May 20, 2011. By Colonel Richard Klass (USAF, ret.) and Dr. Ira Helfand
Recently, we traveled through Maine to address college students and local communities on what must be done to reduce the risk posed by nuclear weapons. Our speaking tour brought us to Brunswick, Portland, Biddeford and Unity. Maine constituents saw their representatives lead the nation on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and were eager to know what next steps our nation can take towards real nuclear weapons security.
In our presentations across the state we sincerely thanked Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe for leading the way to a bipartisan majority vote in 2010 for ratification of the New START. The next logical step to reduce the nuclear weapons threat will be U.S. Senate consideration and ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. As in 2010, the nation will again look to Maine‘s senators for their leadership on this critical issue.
The reason is simple — ending the explosive testing of nuclear weapons will make America safer, while failing to ratify the treaty has serious negative consequences.
The CTBT would end explosive nuclear weapons testing worldwide. The United States was the first country to sign the treaty, and 181 countries have since followed our example. Before the treaty can enter into force and become international law, a group of 44 specified countries, including the U.S., must ratify it. The U.S. and eight other countries have yet to ratify the CTBT. By ratifying the treaty the United States can more aggressively deter, detect and confront proliferating regimes.
It is imperative for the security of the United States to ensure that we sign this important treaty.
In the past, those opposed to the CTBT have cited concerns that it could not be adequately verified. Much has changed over the last two decades and by ratifying the CTBT we can better confront the threats we face in the 21st century. More than 260 certified monitoring stations have been established throughout the world, dramatically improving our ability to verify compliance with CTBT. It was this monitoring system that tracked radiation in the air from the recent Japanese nuclear disaster at Fukushima. The monitoring stations were also alerted when North Korea tested a device in 2006 and then again in 2009.
U.S. nuclear weapons have been certified reliable through non-nuclear tests and computer simulations. A ban on nuclear testing will only affect rogue nations and their nuclear weapons expansion programs. While the United States has outgrown its need for nuclear detonations to test its arsenals, other countries — with less experience maintaining these weapons — will likely need a test detonation to demonstrate their entry as a nuclear weapons state. The CTBT, when in force, will provide legal justification to the United States and other signatories to ensure that other countries do not develop their nuclear weapons programs to this point.
Over the last decade, the CTBT has also earned the solid support of a significant bipartisan group of scientists and respected national security experts. President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State George Shultz, Henry Kissinger and President George H.W. Bush’s National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft — all former proponents of explosive nuclear testing — have come out strongly in favor of the CTBT as critical to our national security.
This treaty is essential for the security and health of our country because it helps to lessen the only remaining existential threat to the United States. A nuclear detonation, either from terrorism or a general attack, would lead to the devastation of the public health infrastructure in the area and the spread of dangerous radiation for hundreds of miles.
The medical community’s ability to respond to such a situation is woefully inadequate, amounting to supportive care and comfort measures. As with most serious illnesses in medicine, prevention is the best practice.
With no need or desire to test nuclear weapons and a clear national security interest in preventing other countries from doing so, the CTBT is a common-sense treaty.
Maine’s Sens. Collins and Snowe have the singular opportunity to lead a bipartisan majority to stop the worldwide testing of nuclear weapons and help reduce the risk posed from these weapons of mass destruction. We were gratified by the positive interest from people we saw on our recent Maine trip and encourage all Mainers to understand the timeliness and gravity of this issue, and voice their views of the CTBT to Sens. Collins and Snowe.
Col. Richard L. Klass is president of the Veterans’ Alliance for Security and Democracy.
Dr. Ira Helfand serves on the Board of Physicians for Social Responsibility and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.