US Mission Geneva

President Obama vowed to pursue ratification and entry into force of the CTBT in his speech in Prague. In so doing the United States is once again taking a leading role in supporting a test ban treaty just as it had when discussions first began more than 50 years ago.

By all accounts, 2010 was a watershed year for nuclear arms control. In word and deed, the United States followed through on its commitment to disarmament. The U.S. Nuclear Posture Review concluded last April, fundamentally recalibrated the role of nuclear weapons in our strategic doctrine and changed U.S. declaratory policy on use of nonnuclear weapons.

MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of State of the United States of America Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov are signing a protocol and exchange of instruments of ratification of the treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on measures for reduction and modification of strategic offensive arms. With this exchange, the treaty will enter into force.

The United States is strongly committed to continuing its global leadership in eliminating the humanitarian risks posed by landmines.

This past Friday, Secretary Clinton announced that the bureau that I head up, the bureau is now named the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, and that is to restore arms control policymaking to the Department of State and, at the same time, to reiterate that the full range of policy activities in this sphere from the formulation of arms control policies through the implementation of treaties …

A reorganization of the Department of State’s arms control and nonproliferation functions will take effect today. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton approved this plan with the goal of improving and revitalizing the Department’s efforts to enhance U.S. national security by effectively addressing global nuclear, chemical, biological, and conventional weapons threats.

I am honored to speak to you today on behalf of Assistant Secretary Rose Gottemoeller who very much regrets she was unable to be with you today because of pressing business on the new START treaty at home. As a loyal IISS alum, she sends her best regards to the Institute and to all of the participants in this important conference.

Nuclear proliferation and terrorism are global challenges and they demand a global response. That is why President Obama invited world leaders to Washington for a nuclear security summit earlier this week to seek commitments from all nations to take steps to secure vulnerable nuclear materials and prevent nuclear smuggling in order to stop terrorists or criminal organizations from acquiring these dangerous materials.

At its founding, Elihu Root gave this campus a mission that is the very essence of our national defense: “Not to promote war, but to preserve peace by intelligent and adequate preparation to repel aggression.” For more than a century, you and your predecessors have heeded that call. There are few greater contributions citizens can claim.