On the recordJanuary 25, 1994
Today the Conference on Disarmament opens in Geneva. The No. 1 item on its agenda is negotiation of a Comprehensive Test Ban [CTB] Treaty. This treaty banning all nuclear weapons tests has been the goal of U.S. Presidents back to Eisenhower. Achieving a CTB has been a standing treaty commitment for the United States and Russia--then the Soviet Union--since the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which halted nuclear weapons explosions in the atmosphere, was signed in 1963. But underground explosions continued for the three following decades by the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, and eventually India. The nuclear powers again committed to conclude a CTB Treaty when the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT] was signed in 1968, and for 25 years the non-nuclear nations that signed the NPT have looked for progress on a CTB. That is what they explicitly expected in return for their compliance with the NPT. But although negotiations continued and even neared completion during the Carter administration, CTB talks were suspended with the invasion of Afghanistan. Now, today, the Clinton administration is taking its effort to finally conclude a CTB to the international stage.
