December 22, 2010: U.S. Senate approves New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).
May 28, 2010: Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference 2010 adopts consensus Final Document (PDF), available online via Reaching Critical Will
May 26, 2010: The United Kingdom releases nuclear warhead numbers: “Foreign Secretary William Hague stated that the UK’s overall stockpile of nuclear warheads will not exceed 225 warheads, and the UK will retain up to 160 operationally available warheads.” See the full summary by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
May 13, 2010: The New START Treaty Sent to the Senate, White House blog post by Brian McKeon, senior adviser to the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) and Deputy National Security Adviser to the Vice President.
May 3, 2010: The United States releases figures on nuclear warhead stockpile. “As of September 30, 2009, the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons consisted of 5,113 warheads.” The Fact Sheet by the U.S. Defense Department also notes that “several thousand additional nuclear warheads are retired and awaiting dismantlement.”
April 13, 2010: Nuclear Security Summit
- Forty European statesmen and women release statement on nuclear disarmament to coincide with the Washington Summit, Letter posted on website of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), London.
- Press Conference by the President at the Nuclear Security Summit, Washington, DC, White House transcript.
April 8, 2010: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama sign the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Prague. (For main text of the Treaty, associated Protocol, and Annexes and Unilateral Statements, visit this page on the website of the US Department of State.)
April 6, 2010: Obama Administration releases the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review Report (PDF), U.S. Department of Defense.
March 16, 2010: Speech by David Lidington MP, Shadow Minister for foreign affairs, at the Nuclear Policy Lab at the Royal Society, “Conservative policy on nuclear proliferation and deterrence.”
March 3, 2010: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announces that nuclear arms control is firmly on the Alliance’s agenda: “Again, without anticipating the outcome of our discussions I’ve already today indicated what I would call a pragmatic and realistic approach while keeping the vision clear, the vision of nuclear zero which I think all people could and should embrace.” See text of full press conference, Brussels.
February 26, 2010: Foreign Ministers from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and Norway send letter to NATO Secretary General, calling for the Alliance to seize non-proliferation and disarmament opportunities.
February 23, 2010: U.S. to retire nuclear Tomahawk missiles
Kyodo News, via The Japan Times.
February 22, 2010: Five NATO states to urge removal of US nuclear arms in Europe, Julian Borger, The Guardian.
February 19, 2010: Belgian statesmen call for removal of tactical nuclear weapons from Europe, in support of broader agenda for nuclear weapons-free world, in Vers un monde sans armes nucleaires (De Standaard).
- Authors of the op-ed include: Willy Claes, former minister of Foreign Affairs, former NATO secretary general; Jean-Luc Dehaene, former prime minister of Belgium, member of the European Parliament; Louis Michel, former minister of Foreign Affairs, former member of EU Commission, member of the European Parliament; and, Guy Verhofstadt, former prime minister of Belgium, chairman liberal fraction European Parliament.
The Belgian Prime Minister, Yves Leterme, followed the op-ed with a press release on the same day, affirming that his government supports the overall nuclear weapons-free vision. He also noted that Belgium will work with a number of other NATO countries to take the nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation agenda forward during the review of the Alliance’s Strategic Concept.
- Communique de presse : un monde sans armes nucleaires est egalement l’objectif du gouvernement Leterme, Belgian Prime Minister’s website, February 19, 2010
February 2, 2010: Presidents Medvedev and Obama offer support at beginning of Global Zero summit in Paris.
- See statements by US President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the opening day of the Global Zero Summit
February 1, 2010: Carl Bildt, Foreign Minister of Sweden, and Radek Sikorski, Foreign Minister of Poland, write an op-ed in The New York Times, calling for the United States and Russia to remove tactical nuclear weapons from Europe, in Next, the Tactical Nukes.
January 27, 2010: In his State of the Union Address, U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed his agenda on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Key excerpts:
“Even as we prosecute two wars, we are also confronting perhaps the greatest danger to the American people — the threat of nuclear weapons. I have embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of these weapons, and seeks a world without them. To reduce our stockpiles and launchers, while ensuring our deterrent, the United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades. And at April’s Nuclear Security Summit, we will bring 44 nations together behind a clear goal: securing all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years, so that they never fall into the hands of terrorists.”
“These diplomatic efforts have also strengthened our hand in dealing with those nations that insist on violating international agreements in pursuit of these weapons. That is why North Korea now faces increased isolation, and stronger sanctions — sanctions that are being vigorously enforced. That is why the international community is more united, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated. And as Iran’s leaders continue to ignore their obligations, there should be no doubt: they, too, will face growing consequences. That is a promise.”