How to Ratify the Test Ban Treaty

Ten years ago last month, the U.S. Senate failed to approve the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. A decade later, the dangers posed by the potential spread of nuclear weapons and materials to additional states and terrorists have increased dramatically. Stopping proliferation will require a global effort -- and an early, essential step in that effort must be U.S. ratification of the test ban.

The test ban is clearly consistent with U.S. security interests. Because the United States does not conduct nuclear tests and has no plans or the need to do so, the United States should take advantage of the security and political benefits that would come with ratification. A permanent test ban would close off the one reliable avenue -- nuclear testing -- by which other states might develop new, sophisticated weapons and/or increase the lethality of already existing arsenals. ...