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The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) would ban all nuclear explosions. One involves debating pro and con arguments to weigh the treaty's potential benefits, costs, and risks. (CRS Report RL34394, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Issues and Arguments , presents these arguments in detail.) This path has been taken in earlier nuclear testing treaties through "Safeguards," unilateral measures consistent with the treaties that the United States can take to buttress its nuclear intelligence and weapons. Safeguards may be of particular interest to Senators who have not decided how to vote on the treaty. Some Senators in this group may see pros and cons as in balance and look for something that tips that balance. Some may feel that the United States would lose little by ratifying the CTBT on grounds that this nation is highly unlikely to conduct future nuclear tests, while seeing in the CTBT debate an opportunity to gain a commitment to steps to augment U.S. security as the price for their votes. Yet an analysis of CTBT pros and cons would not address these concerns. The principal modifications from the 1963 Safeguards were substitution of "The conduct, within the constraints of treaties on nuclear testing, of effective and continuing underground nuclear test programs" for "The conduct of comprehensive, aggressive, and continuing underground nuclear test programs" in Safeguard A; the inclusion of the 1976 Safeguard C; and the division of 1963 Safeguard D into a Safeguard for nuclear explosion monitoring and one for intelligence. In 1999 as in 1963, the Safeguards were of critical importance to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Sixth, the Safeguards' focus on R&D but not plants and strategic forces was immaterial in 1963. CTBT supporters maintain that this nation has provided ample support for the Safeguards on R&D and nuclear explosion monitoring. There have been many claims that the United States has not maintained its nuclear forces and their supporting infrastructure adequately. Recognizing the Article VI commitment, President Obama said in April 2009, "I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons" and pledged to pursue CTBT ratification "immediately and aggressively." CTBT opponents might see revised Safeguards as a path to secure ratification of the treaty by giving supporters a structure for reaching a bargain that could alter the net assessment enough to convince 67 Senators that the treaty plus Safeguards would be in U.S. national security interests. Safeguards have been part of every past debate on nuclear testing treaties and will likely be part of a future CTBT debate. Safeguards and implementation measures have a role to play in that net assessment. Procedures for withdrawing from CTBT to conduct nuclear test ing
(F, 1997) "The understanding that if the President of the United States is informed by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy (DOE)—advised by the Nuclear Weapons Council, the Directors of DOE's nuclear weapons laboratories, and the Commander of the U.S. Strategic Command—that a high level of confidence in the safety or reliability of a nuclear weapon type that the two Secretaries consider to be critical to our nuclear deterrent could no longer be certified, the President, in consultation with the Congress, would be prepared to withdraw from the CTBT under the standard 'supreme national interests' clause in order to conduct whatever testing might be required."
Limitations on nuclear testing have been on the international agenda since 1954. The United States ratified one such treaty in 1963 and two in 1990 that together bar all but underground nuclear tests with an explosive yield of 150 kilotons or less. The United States has observed a unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests since 1992. In 1996, this nation signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which would ban all nuclear explosions.
The Senate rejected the CTBT in 1999. That debate focused on such pros and cons as whether the United States could maintain its nuclear weapons without testing, whether it could verify compliance with the treaty, and how the treaty would affect nuclear nonproliferation. Another aspect to past debates was "Safeguards," measures that this nation can take unilaterally within the treaty to protect its nuclear security. To compensate for "disadvantages and risk" they saw in the treaty regime, the Joint Chiefs of Staff conditioned their support for the 1963 treaty on four Safeguards: an aggressive nuclear test program, maintaining nuclear weapon laboratories, maintaining the ability to resume atmospheric tests promptly, and improving intelligence and nuclear explosion monitoring capabilities. Safeguards were key to securing Senate ratification of the 1963 treaty. Updated Safeguards have been part of subsequent treaty ratification efforts.
In April 2009, President Obama pledged to pursue U.S. CTBT ratification "immediately and aggressively." A debate on the treaty would involve its pros and cons and how they have changed since 1999. CRS Report RL34394, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Issues and Arguments, examines such issues, but no prior CRS report examined the role of Safeguards in a future debate. Like pros and cons, Safeguards could affect Senators' net assessment of the treaty; unlike pros and cons, they are amenable to legislative bargaining and compromise. As such, they may play a key role in a CTBT debate. To that end, Safeguards could be updated, such as by adding Safeguards for the nuclear weapon production plants and strategic forces, and could be augmented with implementation measures.
While Safeguards may be part of a future CTBT debate, both supporters and opponents of the treaty could criticize them. Supporters may see augmented Safeguards as unneeded, arguing that the technical case for the treaty is stronger than in 1999. Many supporters favor further reductions and, ultimately, elimination of nuclear weapons, and view the CTBT as a stepping-stone in that direction; they could see revised Safeguards as moving in the opposite direction by supporting U.S. nuclear capabilities. Opponents assert that this nation cannot have confidence in its nuclear weapons or the program to maintain them without testing, and that nations could conceal nuclear tests. They hold that the United States has not adequately implemented existing Safeguards, and doubt it would do better with CTBT Safeguards. In their view, both the CTBT and inadequately-supported Safeguards would jeopardize U.S. security.
This report may be updated occasionally.