PRESS RELEASE

20 April 2000

President Clinton’s Busy Schedule Neglects Major Arms Control Conference

Spread of Nuclear Weapons Left Unchecked by US

WASHINGTON, DC – When President Clinton hop-scotches across the country next week to promote Internet access, attend party fundraisers, and play golf, negotiations on global nuclear proliferation are set to take a backseat.  Having failed to get the US Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) last October, the Clinton Administration is now ignoring a weakened Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Regime.

“The foundations of global arms control are being destroyed – India and Pakistan have already gone nuclear; Iraq and the DPRK are barely kept in the NPT; the US, Russia and NATO are finding new tasks for their nuclear arms; and the US is considering building a defense of ‘anti-missile missiles’ instead of relying on mutual deterrence,” said Daniel Plesch, Director of BASIC. “With nuclear issues at the top of their stated security agendas, why are world leaders such as US President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore staying away from the NPT Review Conference on controlling and eliminating nuclear weapons?”

Instead, Mr. Clinton is sending Norman Wulf to head the US delegation to the 187-nation NPT Review Conference.  Mr. Wulf, a political appointee, is considered by arms control experts to be minor figure in advancing arms control efforts.  Experts fear that this sends the wrong message.  Ambassador James Leonard, a former disarmament negotiator, said, “The notable absence of any senior official in New York can be explained in one of two ways:  either the Administration no longer thinks that the NPT is important, or else its policy makers are embarrassed at their failure to follow through on the promises made five years ago.” 

In 1995 Vice President Gore attended the NPT Review meeting which indefinitely extended the Treaty. Many states followed the US lead by sending high-level representatives to reaffirm their commitment to the reduction of nuclear arms, but since then there has been precious little progress in attaining that goal.  Following the 1999 defeat of the CTBT in the US Senate, Vice President Gore took to the airwaves in his first campaign commercial stating; “There is no issue more important than nuclear weapons.”

“The absence of the President and Vice President is significant and shows the Administration has given up on controlling proliferation and is instead staking US security on National Missile Defense,” said Plesch.  “US consideration of building anti-missile-missiles in the National Missile Defense plan is expected to be widely condemned at the NPT Review as starting a new arms race.”

For the latest information on the NPT Review please call
Tom McDonald or Christine Kucia at 202-487-4386 (mobile) or
Adam Eidinger at 202-785-1266 (202-744-2671 mobile). 

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