Support for the CTBT is growing across the political spectrum. Senior statesmen, including former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, former Secretaries of Defense William Perry, Harold Brown, and William Cohen, as well as President George H. W. Bush's National Security Advisor Gen. Brent Scowcroft have called on the Senate to reconsider and approve the CTBT.
An overwhelming majority of Americans also support a global, verifiable treaty banning all nuclear weapons test explosions. A 2004 public opinion poll found that 87 percent of respondents support U.S. ratification of the CTBT. Public support for the nuclear test ban has remained strong since the early days of the Cold War.
Since the CTBT was completed in 1996, the United States and more than 180 nations have signed, including the other major nuclear-armed states (China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom). All NATO members--except for the United States--have ratified the treaty.
The following is a sample of the many statements of support for the CTBT from national security leaders across the political spectrum:
Former Secretary of State George Shultz: “[CTBT opponents] don't have to say they changed their mind. They can say there's new evidence that we have, and on the basis of new evidence they can support it… [Republicans] might have been right voting against it some years ago, but they would be right voting for it now, based on these new facts…[There are] new pieces of information that are very important and that should be made available to the Senate."
-Rome, April 17, 2009
Former Undersecretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and chief negotiator of the 1991 START I treaty, Ambassador Linton Brooks: “…states whose cooperation is necessary for an effective nonproliferation regime are reluctant to cooperate while the five recognized nuclear powers are not, in their view, meeting their Article VI obligations. And the touchstone of that, at least with regard to the United States, has become CTBT… I think, we probably ought to go ahead and ratify the CTBT in the United States…”
-Carnegie Nonproliferation Conference, April 6, 2009
Former Secretaries of Defense Harold Brown, Melvin R. Laird and William J. Perry: “This treaty is too important for the vote of the last Congress [in 1999] to be the final word…The fact is that the suspension of nuclear tests instituted by President George Bush and Congress in 1992 will remain in place for many years to come. There are advantages to the United States in our international relations in ratifying the test ban treaty. The treaty is an important element of the global nonproliferation regime and crucial to American leadership of those efforts.”
-“Ratify, But Review,” The New York Times, January 7, 2001.
Former co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission Thomas H. Kean (R) and Lee H. Hamilton (D): “More nuclear armed states means more risks to peace and stability…We can help by making deeper nuclear arms reductions, ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and fulfilling the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty – steps that would have a powerful and positive effect.”
-The Washington Post, November 9, 2008.
Former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for international security affairs Joseph Nye, former Undersecretary of State for political affairs Nicholas Burns and former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott: “Ratifying [the CTBT] will be to the international advantage of the United States. The CTBT is especially important to the goal of reducing nuclear weapons… By actively seeking ratification, the U.S. will be more able to persuade Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty member states to erect stronger barriers against the acquisition of nuclear weapons… It will also impede the ability of countries with nuclear weapons to develop and deploy more advanced nuclear systems, including taking steps to miniaturize and otherwise make more usable their offensive nuclear capabilities.”
-“U.S., Russia Must Lead on Arms Control,” Politico, October 13, 2009.
Former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry: "… U.S. ratification [of the CTBT] has become, in the eyes of many states, a litmus test for U.S. leadership on the overall global efforts to prevent the use and spread of nuclear weapons. Although it would not ensure entry into force, U.S. ratification would put Washington in a position to pressure holdout states to ratify the treaty. Furthermore, U.S. ratification would promote international norm building that would stigmatize states that conduct nuclear testing; it would increase the likelihood that states that violate this norm would be punished."
-U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, Independent Task Force Report No. 62, Council on Foreign Relations, 2009.
(The CFR panel also included: Ambassador Linton F. Brooks, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Ashton B. Carter, former Department of Energy official John Deutch, former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration John A. Gordon, former commander in chief of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) Eugene E. Habiger, former Undersecretary of State Arnold Kanter, former director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Ronald F. Lehman II, former National Security Council official Franklin C. Miller, and others.)
Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and former Senator Sam Nunn: “Near-term steps that the U.S. and Russia could take, beginning in 2008, can in and of themselves dramatically reduce nuclear dangers. They include… Adopt[ing] a process for bringing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) into effect, which would strengthen the NPT and aid international monitoring of nuclear activities.”
-“Toward a Nuclear-Free World,” The Wall Street Journal, January 15, 2008.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: “Q: Do you think the United States should ratify the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty? SEC. GATES: I think that if there are adequate verification measures, [the United States] probably should.”
-Address at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, October 28, 2008.
Technical and Scientific Experts
Dr. Siegfried Hecker, Former Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory: “… I definitely come out in favor that it's in our nation's and the world's interest to actually ratify the comprehensive test ban treaty.”
-Testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Energy and Water Subcommittee, April 30, 2008.
“The single most important reason to ratify the CTBT is to stop other countries from improving their arsenals – China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran if it ever progresses that far…We gain substantially more from limiting other countries than we lose by giving up testing…The U.S. has carried out more than 1,000 nuclear tests, and the Chinese have done about 45. You can see the difference in the sophistication of our arsenals.”
-“Nuclear Disarmament,” CQ Researcher, Volume 19, Number 34, October 2, 2009, p. 820.
Thomas D'agostino, Undersecretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA): "I'm pleased to report that the stockpile stewardship is working. This program has proven its ability to successfully sustain the safety, security and reliability of the stockpile without the need to conduct an underground test for well over a decade."
-Testimony to the Energy and Water Development subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, March 29, 2007.
Former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Generals Colin Powell, John Shalikashvili and David Jones: “On September 22, 1997, President Clinton submitted the Comprehensive Nuclear test Ban (CTB) Treaty to the United States Senate for its advice and consent, together with six Safeguards that define the conditions under which the United States will enter into this Treaty. The Safeguards will strengthen our commitments in the area of intelligence, monitoring and verification, stockpile stewardship, maintenance of our nuclear laboratories, and test readiness… With these Safeguards, we support Senate approval of the CTB Treaty.”
-Statement of former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with Admiral William Crowe, January 28, 1999.
Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Retired), former National Security Advisor: “… we've learned a lot since [the CTBT] was before the Senate before and circumstances have changed. And I am cautiously optimistic that if the administration makes a good, clear case, then it has a chance.”
-Conference call hosted by Council on Foreign Relations, May 1, 2009.
Gen. John Shalikashvili, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "Every U.S. ally strongly supports our ratification of the CTBT. All of them have signed the CTBT. Most have ratified it already…. Neither they, our allies, nor anyone else outside of our borders has any doubt about the credibility of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. Instead, what our allies fear is that if we walk away from the Test Ban Treaty, U.S. leadership on arms control and nonproliferation will be seriously, seriously weakened.”
-Address to the Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference on March 16, 2000.
Most Reverend Edwin O’Brien, Archbishop of Baltimore and member of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: “The Holy See argues that entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would demonstrate that nations are serious about their commitment to a nuclear-weapons-free-world. For us in the United States, this means that public opinion makers, including religious leaders, should help build public dialogue and support for ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. And leaders of both political parties should build a strong bipartisan consensus to support the Treaty as an important step on the road to zero.”
-Statement to the STRATCOM Deterrence Symposium, July 29, 2009.