COALITION TO REDUCE NUCLEAR DANGERS -- NEWS RELEASE

"Senate Should Avoid Rejection or Indefinite Postponement of Test Ban
Treaty Say Proliferation Experts" 

For Release:  October 11, 1999 

Contact: Daryl Kimball, 202-546-0795  x136

(WASHINGTON, DC) This afternoon President Clinton wrote to Senate Majority
Leader Lott (R-MS) requesting that the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty (CTBT) be withdrawn from consideration by the Senate. The letter
does not  pledge, as Senator Helms and others have demanded, that Clinton
will not bring up the Treaty again during the remainder of his term.
Nuclear non-proliferation experts and Treaty advocates urged Senator Lott
and other Senators opposed to the Treaty to consider the consequences their
possible rejection of the Treaty in a vote scheduled for October 12.

"Rejection of the Test Ban Treaty would unravel the fabric of the
international nuclear non-proliferation regime and would leave the door
open to other states —  like India, Pakistan, Russia and China —  to resume
nuclear testing," said Thomas Graham, Jr., President of the Lawyers
Alliance for World Security and former U.S. Ambassador responsible for
securing the indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
in 1995. The extension of the NPT was secured on the basis of a commitment
by the U.S. and others to conclude the CTBT.

"Senator Lott and other opponents of the Treaty who have rushed to
judgement on the CTBT should accept the President's very straightforward
recommendation," said Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the Coalition to
Reduce Nuclear Dangers, an alliance of 17 leading nuclear non-proliferation
and arms control organizations. "It is not prudent for the Senate to
foreclose the possibility that it will reconsider the Test Ban Treaty when
the support for the Treaty may be sufficient to secure its approval," he
added.

Non-proliferation experts also warn that indefinite postponement of the
U.S. ratification of the Test Ban Treaty also has serious and damaging
consequences. "If the President and the Senators decide to delay
consideration of the Treaty, they  must not postpone U.S. ratification for
long. The consequences of prolonged U.S. inaction may be as severe as the
rejection of the Treaty by the Senate," said Kimball. "The longer the
United States takes to ratify and help implement the Treaty, the more
likely it is that one nation may break the existing global moratorium and
set in motion a dangerous political and military chain reaction," he added.

"Knowingly or unknowingly, those who would vote down the CTBT are acting in
a manner that will facilitate the acquisition of thermonuclear weapons by
additional countries and diminish prospects for international stability and
the rule of law. They are, in short, recommending a policy that promotes
nuclear weapons proliferation and would severely undermine U.S. and
international security," added Kimball. "Such a U-turn in American nuclear
policy would be a monumental blunder of historic proportions that must be
averted," he cautioned.

The CTBT was concluded in September of 1996. Since then 154 nations have
signed the pact, which would ban all nuclear weapon test explosions, set up
a far-ranging international monitoring system, and allow for short-notice,
on-site inspections to ensure compliance. A set of 44 states must ratify
the Treaty before it formally enters into force. Thus far, 51 nations have
ratified, including U.S. allies Britain, France, Germany and Japan. Of the
44 needed for entry into force, 26 have ratified and 41 have signed. Two
more — India and Pakistan — have made conditional pledges to sign, but are
very unlikely to do so if the Senate rejects or otherwise fails approve the
CTBT.

				# # #

The Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers is an alliance of 17 nuclear
non-proliferation and arms control organizations committed to a practical,
step-by-step program of action to reduce nuclear dangers. For more
information on the CTBT, see the Coalition's CTBT Web Site

____________________________________

Daryl Kimball, Executive Director
Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers
110 Maryland Avenue NE, Suite 505
Washington, DC 20002
(ph) 202-546-0795 x136 (fax) 202-546-7970
website 
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