The Center for Nonproliferation Studies’ Miles Pomper and yours truly took to the pages of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists today to urge Congress to promptly introduce and approve the implementing legislation for the 2005 Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) and the 20005 International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT). You can read the full article here. Here’s an excerpt:
The 2010 Nuclear Security Summit raised international awareness of the need for global cooperation to secure vulnerable nuclear materials and to decrease terrorist threats. The 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul will provide another high-level push to reduce nuclear risks. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano will stress the importance of the amendment at the upcoming 55th annual IAEA General Conference, scheduled to take place in Vienna from September 19-23, 2011. The conference will provide an important opportunity to raise awareness about the amendment and encourage states that have yet to ratify it — such as the United States, South Korea, Japan, France, and Canada — to do so as soon as possible. With the 2012 summit a mere six months away, the United States is running out of time to make good on its pledge to ratify the CPPNM Amendment and ISCANT.
Congress should demonstrate its continued commitment to nuclear security by swiftly approving and implementing legislation for the two Conventions, thereby paving the way for their ratification in advance of the 2012 summit. Hopefully, there won’t be another terrorist attack on US soil. But, if there is, let’s make sure it’s not nuclear.
