Restoring Leadership on Arms Control

Wow. We did not expect 2020 to go the way it did. It has been a tragic, challenging, and stressful year. 

Now, as we look towards 2021, we have a chance to turn the page in some important areas. The election of Joe Biden creates the potential for significant progress on arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament.

But meaningful and durable changes will not come easily. And the next U.S. administration and other world leaders will need to move quickly to make decisions on a range of issues.

These decisions and outcomes—and the efforts we make to influence them—will shape the international security landscape for years to come

We are counting on you to join us as we roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Arms Control, Nonproliferation & Disarmament: Into the Next Decade

Tuesday, December 1, 2020 · 12:30 pm-3:30pm

• Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), member of the Armed Services Committee, and Senator Jeff Merkley, (D-OR), member of the Foreign Relations Committee on "Restoring U.S. Leadership on Nuclear Weapons Risk Reduction"
• "The Future of New START and U.S.-Russian Nuclear Arms Control," with chief U.S. New START negotiator Rose Gottemoeller
• "Strengthening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty" with NPT Review Conference President Amb. Gustavo Zlauvinen
• "Repairing the Broken U.S. Policy on Iran," with Kelsey Davenport, ACA Director for Nonproliferation Policy
• "How Can We Diversify and Strengthen the Nuclear Disarmament Movement?" a plenary discussion with Amb. Bonnie Jenkins, Cecili Thompson Williams with Beyond the Bomb, Prof. Vincent Intondi, author of African Americans Against the Bomb, and Daryl Kimball, Executive Director, ACA
• "How We Can Bring Down the Skyrocketing Costs of Nuclear Weapons," with Kingston Reif, ACA Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy, moderated by Aaron Mehta, Pentagon Correspondent for Defense News
• "Options for Engaging Other Nuclear-Armed States in the Disarmament Enterprise," with former acting undersecretary of state and ACA Board Chair Thomas Countryman and Dr. Heather Williams from King's College London
• "The Impact of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons," with TPNW negotiating conference president Amb. Elayne Whyte Gómez
• Closing address by United Nations Undersecretary for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu

Possible Future SecDef Was An Analyst at ACA

One person who is under serious consideration to become Joe Biden’s pick to be the next Secretary of Defense, Michéle Flournoy, worked as a senior analyst for the Arms Control Association from 1987-1989.

Flournoy, describes her time at ACA early in her career as “a tremendous experience and opportunity. It was really the first time where I was able to develop a real depth of expertise in a given area and to build a body of work as a young analyst.”

Read more in our July/August 2017 Arms Control Today interview with Michéle Flournoy.

In Case You Missed It...

• In a November 13 analysis “Iran’s Accumulation of Enriched Uranium Slows,” published on our Arms Control Now blog, director for nonproliferation policy Kelsey Davenport and research assistant Julia Masterson break down the latest report on Iran’s nuclear activities.
   
• In the October 27 essay, “A Turning Point in the Struggle Against the Bomb: the Nuclear Ban Treaty Ready to Go Into Effect,” in Just Security, executive director Daryl Kimball discusses the impact and the significance of the coming entry into forces of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 
   
• Senior Fellow Jeff Abramson makes the case for a shift in U.S. policy to mitigate the risks to civilians in conflict in the Nov. 11 op-ed for Defense News, “Biden should embrace the humanitarian disarmament agenda.”