At The End Of His Term President Obama Turns His Attention To U.S. Nuclear Forces

Unarmed Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, as part of a test, December 11, 2002. REUTERS/Tom Rogers

Lawrence Korb, Reuters: Money for Obama’s nuclear upgrades better spent on conventional weapons

As they prepare to leave office, presidents often seek to do something about nuclear weapons. President Bill Clinton tried to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, only to be blocked by a Republican Congress. President Ronald Reagan negotiated a treaty with the Soviet Union banning intermediate-range nuclear forces, and dreamed of doing away with nuclear weapons altogether.

President Barack Obama entered office concerned about the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. In his April 2009 Prague speech, Obama pledged “to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” His initial efforts produced a stabilizing arms-control treaty with Russia and a series of international summits that made modest progress in securing nuclear material. Since then, however, the effort to control the world’s most dangerous weapons has stagnated.

Without progress this year, Obama could leave his successor an ambiguous and unsustainable nuclear policy. Lack of progress also makes it far more difficult for Washington to provide effective leadership at the president’s fourth Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on Thursday and Friday.

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WNU Editor: The Russians have made it clear that they are pursuing their own nuclear policy .... Russia Doubling Nuclear Warheads (Washington Free Beacon), and the Chinese are scaring everyone else .... Beijing May Keep Nuclear Missiles on Ready Alert (Sputnik).