Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (1996–)

Global agreement prohibiting the testing of all nuclear weapons. From the Eisenhower administration in 1957 to the end of the Clinton administration in 2001, the United States has repeatedly pursued negotiations for a comprehensive test ban treaty. Following decades of limited nuclear arms agreements, in 1993, President Bill Clinton aggressively sought negotiations for a comprehensive test ban, making it a focal point of his foreign policy.

In October 1992, President George H. W. Bush signed a bill that declared that the United States would stop the testing of nuclear weapons, a move that paved the way for a U.S. mission to achieve a sweeping test ban. In January 1993, as Bush prepared to leave office, the United States and Russia signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II), which specified that each nation agreed to decrease its long-range nuclear weaponry to approximately one-third of its present levels. (According to the earlier START I agreement, the United States and Russia had consented to decrease strategic offensive weapons by approximately 30% over a period of seven years.) All of these events created a positive climate for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) talks to begin.

Clinton and Russian president Boris Yeltsin consented to engage in negotiations for a comprehensive test ban at a summit meeting on April 4, 1993, in Vancouver, Canada. In December 1993, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution in favor of negotiations among its member nations for a comprehensive test ban, and in January 1994, talks began, with representatives from 38 nations participating.

From the outset, the advantages of a treaty banning all nuclear weapons tests were apparent. A total ban would stop the construction of new nuclear weapons in nations already possessing nuclear arms. As a result, countries without nuclear weapons would have no need to create nuclear arsenals. All nations would derive an economic benefit from diminished military expenditures.

During the two and a half years of negotiations, the United States asserted its national security priorities. The U.S. delegates pushed for an option whereby any nation could withdraw from the treaty in the case of a calamitous event. The United States also insisted on a provision that would enable participating nations to conduct on-site inspections of any other nation suspected of detonating a nuclear weapon or conducting outlawed nuclear tests. The United States pushed for a provision that would allow treaty nations to use spy satellites to gather information about other nations' nuclear activity. All of the U.S. proposals were accepted into the treaty.

The treaty also called for the establishment of an International Monitoring System (IMS) consisting of highly sensitive nuclear-detection equipment located at monitoring sites throughout the world. Should the IMS detect nuclear activity in any participating country, on-site inspections would be conducted. In this regard, the treaty indicated that the most advanced technology would be used for the IMS. The IMS is used to monitor seismological data, underwater sound, and atmospheric infrasound and has equipment that can detect radionuclides, or radioactive atoms.

The UN General Assembly sanctioned the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on September 10, 1996. On September 24, the United States and 145 nations signed the treaty in New York City. President Clinton submitted the treaty to the Senate for approval in 1998. Fierce bipartisan discussion caused gridlock in the Senate, delaying a vote until October 1999.

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