Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will lead the U.S. delegation to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference at the United Nations in New York City, which begins today, Monday, May 3. The US Delegation will join nearly all of the 188 other nations that are party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The conference will conclude on May 28, 2010.
The Secretary's role underscores the Obama Administration's top-level commitment to revitalizing and strengthening the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Other members of the delegation will include Ambassador Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations; Ellen Tauscher, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security; Tom D'Agostino, NNSA Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator; and Ambassador Susan Burk, Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation.
The Review Conference meets every five years to assess the status of the world's nuclear nonproliferation efforts and to reach a consensus on further steps to strengthen it. For 40 years, the Treaty has been the cornerstone of our efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, material and technology. As more states and non-state actors seek to acquire nuclear weapons, nuclear terrorism and proliferation have become the gravest threats of the 21st century. United Nations NPT Conference Website
“Our goal for the Review Conference is to strengthen the treaty across all three of its pillars: disarmament, nonproliferation, and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. But we don't just come to this conference with the resolute commitment of President Obama to make progress across all these pillars. We come with months of hard work already underway and already bearing fruit.”
Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
WASHINGTON, DC, Apr. 30 -- Ellen Tauscher, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security; Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations , U.S. Mission to the United Nations; and Ambassador Susan F. Burk, Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation provided a briefing in advance of the NPT conference, scheduled to begin on May 3, 2010. During the briefing, the administration leaders outlined the goals of for conference, what the United States hopes to accomplish, areas of focus for this conference, and potential challenges. Read More
Ellen Tauscher, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security spoke at the Center for American Progress. Under Secretary Tauscher discussed challenges that countries like North Korea and Iran pose to the nuclear nonproliferation regime. She said, “This cynical path to a nuclear weapon cannot be allowed to serve as a model for others, otherwise it strikes at the very core bargain of the Treaty – in exchange for forswearing the pursuit of nuclear weapons, NPT state parties enjoy the right to the benefits of the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The pursuit of that right cannot be used as a convenient cover for acquisition of nuclear weapons.” Under Secretary Tauscher continued to outline recent successes and what one can expect at the review conference given the aforementioned challenges. Read More
The US Department of State recently released several fact sheets to highlight key facts related to the Obama administrations nuclear non-proliferation policy, recent events, and the NPT Conference taking place from May 3-28, 2010.
