Toward A World Free of Nuclear Weapons

The US and German Nuclear Non-Proliferation Quartets arrived at the American Academy in Berlin on the evening of February 3 for a historic discussion about the future of global nuclear-arms reduction. The American Quartet is comprised of the Hon. Henry A. Kissinger, former Secretary of State and founder, Kissinger Associates; Hon. Samuel A. Nunn, former US Senator (D-GA) and Co-Chairman, Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI); Hon. William J. Perry, former US Secretary of Defense and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; and the Hon. George P. Shultz, former US Secretary of State and Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution. Their German counterparts: The Hon. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, former Federal Foreign Minister; Hon. Helmut Schmidt, Co-Publisher of Die Zeit and former Federal Chancellor; Hon. Richard von Weizsäcker, former Federal President; and the Hon. Egon Bahr, former Federal Minister for Special Affairs. The evening, moderated by Stefan Kornelius, Foreign Policy Editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung, was cosponsored with NTI, a non-profit organization with a mission to strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and preventing the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, and to work to build the trust, transparency, and security which are preconditions to the ultimate fulfillment of the Non-Proliferation Treaty’s goals and ambitions. NTI is co-chaired by Ted Turner and Sam Nunn.

The Quartets had delivered public statements of their unified vision for a world free of nuclear weapons at a press conference at Hotel Adlon earlier that afternoon, but the American Academy evening was first discussion between the US and German delegations and an audience, which included some 120 experts, including several Ministers from the from the German federal government, as well as eminent figures from the realms of policy, military affairs, diplomacy, journalism, science, and academia. American Academy Co-Chairman Henry A. Kissinger and Academy Trustee Richard von Weizsäcker delivered opening remarks, followed by statements from a representative of each group, and then a question-and-answer period. 

This was the first time that US and German Quartets, experienced voices on transatlantic security from across party lines, have joined together with a vision to counter urgent nuclear threats and laid out a nonpartisan plan for the global eradication of nuclear weapons within a definite timeline and strategy. "This issue is too serious to be politicized," said former Secretary of State Shultz, "and now is the time to get this done."

The discussion at the American Academy in Berlin is part of a larger outreach initiative to bring awareness to the issue of securing nuclear stockpiles, halting their growth, keeping  them out of dangerous hands, and ultimately ending, through careful verification procedures and guidelines, their threat to the world within the coming two decades. The Quartets’ efforts build on ideas set forth in a series of op-eds by the Americans in international publications beginning in January 2007, most notably beginning with their piece in the Wall Street Journal in January 2008, here reprinted courtesy of the Hoover Institution. 

The announcement by President Barack Obama in Prague in April 2009, in addition to the President's meetings with the US Non-Nuclear Quartet at the White House, has prompted a growing coalition of experienced international voices calling for the responsible, verifiable, step-by-step reduction of nuclear weapons across the globe. Recent discussions between President Medvedev of Russia and President Obama set realistic targets for the reduction of each side's nuclear arsenal to 2,000 warheads.

For more on the Nuclear Threat Initiative, please visit www.nti.org. And for more on the project for global arms security put together by the US Quartet, please visit the Nuclear Security Project at www.nuclearsecurityproject.org.

You can also read Sam Nunn's article about the vision and pragmatic steps to nuclear arms eradication, "The Race between Cooperation and Catastrophe," in the Berlin Journal (Fall 2008).

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