As participants from around the world gather at the United Nations for a month-long conference to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the following policy analysts are available for interviews:
JACQUELINE CABASSO
Executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation, Cabasso is at the UN conference in New York. She said today: “The U.S. is doing a big PR blitz trying to convince the rest of the world that it is in compliance with Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires the nuclear powers to negotiate the end of the arms race and the elimination of nuclear weapons. In 1995, the NPT was extended with the understanding that the nuclear powers would implement the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and systematic nuclear disarmament. The U.S. signed the CTBT in 1996, but the Senate has not ratified it and there have not been systematic efforts for disarmament by the U.S. Meanwhile, Russia just approved the CTBT and START II, and suggests going down very quickly to 1,500 strategic deployed warheads. The U.S. has rejected this, saying it would not go below 2,500, and has plans to go forward with National Missile Defense. Russia has said that if that happens, it will withdraw from all arms control treaties. China has made similar statements. It’s an incredibly high-stakes game of nuclear poker.”
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JOHN BURROUGHS
Executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy, Burroughs is also at the conference. He said today: “The U.S. is on the defensive because of the recent Russian ratification of the CTBT and approval of START II. There’s near-universal condemnation of the U.S. plans for systems that would supposedly shoot down incoming missiles. Russia and the U.S. should be talking about reducing and eliminating all their warheads — short-range and reserve as well as long-range. Instead, START II and START III, if they are ever implemented, would still allow each side thousands of warheads in addition to the 2,000 to 3,500 deployed on long-range missiles and bombers. While the NPT requires that the U.S. move towards abolishing nuclear weapons, Presidential Decision Directive 60, adopted in November 1997, affirms that the U.S. will continue to rely on nuclear arms as a cornerstone of its national security for the ‘indefinite future’; the administration’s own pronouncements show that it is in violation of the NPT.”
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JAY TRUMAN
Founder and director of the Downwinders organization, Truman was born in Southern Utah in 1951. As a child living downwind of the Nevada Test Site, he watched more than 30 atomic blasts. For the past 33 years, he has been engaged in research and advocacy for all persons exposed to radiation from nuclear activities. Today he said: “The low value that the U.S. government gives to this important meeting is illustrated by the president and vice president skipping the meeting, but instead going to a fundraiser nearby. At the UN, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright claimed that the U.S. was the world leader in the quest for nuclear disarmament. But the Russians just passed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treat and START II. They are proposing substantially cutting down the number of nuclear weapons, while the U.S. refuses. We have a lot of explaining to do.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
