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BASIC's Project on
Getting to Zero

Working Towards a Nuclear Weapon-Free World

Also see:

• Latest News
• Chronology and Links
• Getting to Zero Papers
• Getting to Zero Email Updates
• Events
• Getting to Zero Blog

Getting to Zero (GTZ) goals and objectives

BASIC embraces both the vision of eliminating nuclear weapons and the practical steps necessary to get there.

Vision

We advocate cutting the Gordian Knot of the current non-proliferation impasse by obtaining the endorsement of global leaders, in particular the US and Russian Presidents, as well as the UK Prime Minister, for renewing "the spirit of Reykjavik" and the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, and pledging new realistic measures to move in that direction.

Milestones

In order for the vision of "Getting to Zero" to be credible, concrete implementing steps should be proposed at an early stage by US, Russian and UK leaders. In conjunction with our partner organizations, we can also engage other nuclear weapons states, such as China and France. The agenda must be flexible, depending on both technical and political issues, including especially verification. It must be rooted in the emerging consensus as articulated by the Hoover Group and others, but also highlight specific problems and propose practical solutions to them. A preliminary list of suggested milestones includes:

• Progressive reduction of operationally deployed strategic warheads, thus reducing the danger of "launch on warning" where decisions must be made in minutes
• Freeze upgrading, modernization and replacement of nuclear weapons. For the United States that would mean discontinuing the "reliable replacement warhead" and the rebuilding of the US nuclear weapons complex. For the United Kingdom, that would mean deferring plans to replace Trident submarines linked to diplomatic initiatives by the UK Government to revive the non-proliferation and disarmament regime.
• US ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the United Kingdom and Russia have done.
• The United States, with NATO agreement, should withdraw the estimated 240 tactical nuclear weapons stationed in Europe, and Russia should withdraw its tactical weapons from operational deployment and place them in secure storage.
• The United States and Russia should extend the START I Treaty for an additional 15 years, thus ensuring that verification measures remain in force
• The United States and Russia should then agree on further strategic arms reductions, to include reducing stockpiles of stored warheads
• International differences over missile defense should be resolved
• The United States should propose new research on ways to verify a fissile materials cutoff treaty, thus opening the way for renewed multilateral negotiations
• In preparation for the 2010 NPT Review Conference, the United States, United Kingdom and Russia should begin discussing steps towards nuclear disarmament which could be endorsed multilaterally (no such steps were mentioned in 2005 due to US opposition)

Background

"Nuclear weapons today present tremendous dangers, but also an historic opportunity. U.S. leadership will be required to take the world to the next stage -- to a solid consensus for reversing reliance on nuclear weapons globally as a vital contribution to preventing their proliferation into potentially dangerous hands, and ultimately ending them as a threat to the world."
George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, William Perry, Sam Nunn - Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal, 4 January 2007

"Over the past 15 years, the goal of the elimination of nuclear weapons has been so much on the back burner that it will take a true political breakthrough and a major intellectual effort to achieve success in this endeavor. It will be a challenge to the current generation of leaders, a test of their maturity and ability to act that they must not fail. It is our duty to help them to meet this challenge."
Mikhail Gorbachev - Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal, 31 January 2007

BASIC launched its "Getting to Zero" project on its 20th anniversary on 6 November 2007. This is an ambitious project which will require the organization to grow and refocus its efforts. Our emphasis will be on cooperation with others and on our transatlantic partnership, which has served us well in the past.

The threat presented by nuclear weapons has never been greater. Unlike conventional terrorism, the nuclear threat calls into question our very existence. The "Grand Bargain" that has been the heart of the non-proliferation regime for nearly forty years is in danger of unraveling. In that bargain, embedded in the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the non-nuclear weapons states (NNWS) agreed to foreswear the development of these weapons in exchange for the nuclear weapons states (NWS) agreeing to negotiate in good faith to eliminate their nuclear arsenals. But dissatisfaction with the lack of progress by the NWS has led a number of NNWS to reconsider their options. In an October 2006 address to a conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Director General Mohamed ElBaradei,that, should the non-proliferation regime fail, we could be living in a future world of up to 30 nuclear powers.

It is this growing threat that has revived the idea of the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. As President Gorbachev said, this will require both a true political breakthrough and a major intellectual effort. BASIC can contribute to both.

The next three years will be a crucial period. In the United States, the Democratic-controlled House has scaled back, if not completely eliminated, plans to rebuild the US nuclear weapons complex and to develop a new generation of nuclear warheads. A bipartisan group of distinguished national security officials, including Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, William Perry, and Sam Nunn, continue to actively promote their plan to move towards a nuclear-free world. This Reykjavik group or "Hoover Group" (named after the Hoover Institution at Stanford which George Shultz heads) promotes the political breakthrough required to breathe new life into the NPT. Non-proliferation has figured prominently in the 2008 Presidential campaign, with clear statements of support for greater disarmament from both John McCain and Barack Obama.

The British government is committed to pursuing multilateral negotiations to promote disarmament. This was the quid pro-quo commitment made with the decision to replace Trident, reaffirmed by the Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett at the June 2007 Carnegie conference, and later by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a speech in India in January 2008, and by Defence Secretary Des Browne in a landmark speech at the Conference on Disarmament on 5 February 2008. We will use a combination of insider and outsider advocacy to encourage the government to pursue concrete proposals with their governmental and non-governmental partners. We will also bring internationally respected British opinion-leaders to Washington to meet with their US counterparts.

BASIC will report on progress regularly on this website and through our Getting to Zero email updates.

More on Getting to Zero

Working Towards a Nuclear Weapon-Free World

• Latest News
• Chronology and Links
• Getting to Zero Papers
• Getting to Zero Email Updates
• Events
• Getting to Zero Blog

BASIC's work is made possible by the generous support of our donors: the Ploughshares Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Polden Puckham Charitable Foundation, Rockefeller Family & Associates, and individual contributors to BASIC. We are grateful to all of them for their support.