Photo: Grey, Graham, Granoff, Markey, Gottemoeller, Holum

WASHINGTON, DC--On June 18, the Bipartisan Security Group (BSG) held a Capitol Hill briefing on the central role of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and obtaining their ultimate elimination. Stressing the Treaty's successful track record over the past 30 years, the panel offered recommendations on how to pursue multilateral security post the Iraqi war.

Sponsored by the House of Representatives Bipartisan Task Force on Non-Proliferation, Members of Congress and some 50 Congressional staffers attended the briefing featuring BSG representatives Rose Gottemoeller, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Deputy Undersecretary for Defense and Nuclear Nonproliferation in the U.S. Department of Energy; Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr. (Ret.), BSG Chair and former General Counsel at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; and John Holum, former Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security in the Clinton administration. Chairing the panel was Ambassador Robert Grey, Jr. (Ret.), BSG Director and former U.S. Representative to the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

Panelists discussed the success and weaknesses of the NPT in constraining countries from obtaining nuclear weapons. They explained that the NPT embodies a delicate, yet crucial balance of interests and expectations. On the one hand, non-nuclear-weapon States (now up to 183) expect the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and the fulfillment of disarmament obligations by the five declared nuclear-weapon States (China, France, Russia, the UK and the US). On the other hand, the five nuclear-weapon States expect that the non-nuclear-weapon States adopt IAEA safeguards and fulfill their obligation not to acquire nuclear weapons. Panelists also pointed out that the Treaty has almost fulfilled its quest to become universal, with only Israel, Pakistan and India holding out, and North Korea presently challenging the regime with its controversial withdrawal.

Rep. Ed Markey, co-chair of Bipartisan Task Force on Non-Proliferation, led a lively and probing dialogue on the need to strengthen safeguards against a state abusing its right to develop nuclear energy as a cover for a nuclear weapons program.

The Bipartisan Security Group distributed an Interim Report on the Status of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which contains specific recommendations about how to render the Treaty more effective.

View the June 2003 BSG Interim Report, "Status of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty" (PDF).

View the BSG Panel presentations:

Rose Gottemoeller (PDF)

Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr. (PDF)

John Holum (PDF)