Irma Arguello, NPSGlobal, with information by Naila Bolus, Ploughshares Fund, 5 Apr 2010. 

There is no doubt that the following two weeks will be crucial to global security. They will have the United States as the main character, but repercusions will affect the whole international system.

The long-awaited Nuclear Posture Review will be released tomorrow and it could represent a major positive change toward nuclear disarmament. As Naila says "These are the critical first steps needed to fulfill the pledge President Obama made last April in Prague to "seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."  And there will  be more relevant events.

On Thrusday, Obama will return to Prague to meet with Russian President Medvedev to sign the new START Treaty, which sets significant reductions to deployed nuclear warheads for both states. Next week, precisely on April 12 and 13, Presidents of 40 nations will meet in Washington at the Nuclear Security Summit, to discuss common measures to secure nuclear materials worldwide against a potential terrorist theft or illicit trafficking. 

The Nuclear Posture Review is expected with a big anxiety not only in the United States but worldwide. The final text that we will know tomorrow will be the result of a very complex process inside the US Government where new winds brought by Obama's team are permanently confronting with the nuclear weapons establishment's traditional thoughts. And all of us know that it will be long and diffcult. 

Concerning the START folow-on Treaty, it sets significantly lower limits on deployed strategic nuclear warheads to levels not seen since the Kennedy and Eisenhower Administrations. It is a vital step toward gaining the international cooperation needed to prevent nuclear terrorism and address other states' hostile nuclear programs.

The case is that it requires to win support in Congress for its ratification, and "it is going to take work." The same situation is posed by the CTBT's ratification, still pending at the Senate level. Watch Joe Cirincione's video on the matter.

Nuclear Security Summit, invited by President Obama will convene multiplicity of views and interests, and will try to get common measures to secure nuclear materials under the US Four Years' proposal.  Presidents' sherpas have been working on a final document of consensus, and we expect that it could be a valuable tool, at least, to secure fissile materials.

We anticipate that the original interest of including a similar commitment for the security of radioactive sources, [whose theft and use represent a plausible threat (even thought negative effects would not be comparable in any way to those from a nuclear explosion)] will fail to concrete on the final document, due to practical reasons. 

On Monday 12, there will be a parallel Non-Governmental Summit, also in Washington DC, where NGOs worldwide will discuss nuclear security issues. It is the event called Next Generation Nuclear Security: Meeting the Global Challenge, where it is expected to have fresh thoughts on the issues, which could hopefully serve as a source of inspiration to define the next steps on the implementation of presidential commitments. 

NPSGlobal will be there, speaking about the Regional Progress and Challenges to Securing Vulnerable Nuclear Material in the next Four Years.  

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