The Foreign Service Journal, December 2009

D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 23 eventual achievement of a world free of nuclear weapons. On Sept. 24, the president chaired a U.N. Security Council session that addressed nu- clear arms control and nonprolifera- tion and adopted UNSC Resolution 1889 (2009). And he is convening a nuclear security summit next March to consider ways of dealing with the threat of nuclear terrorism and re- lated matters. In Prague, the president made clear that he recognizes achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world is a daunting task, but nonetheless challenged the world to move toward that ob- jective. He pledged to negotiate a new bilateral agree- ment to follow the 1991 START Treaty, which expires in December. He urged bringing the Comprehensive Nu- clear Test Ban Treaty into force, beginning with seeking the U.S. Senate’s advice and con- sent. He also urged negotiation of a verifiable ban on the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons (a “cutoff” treaty). Both agreements were first proposed in the mid- 1950s, so the failure to achieve them yet is sobering evidence of the diffi- culties ahead. The Genesis and Role of ACDA As the American experience fol- lowing World War II demonstrates, arms control cuts across the traditional bureaucratic structures for manag- ing foreign and defense policy. In the 1950s and early 1960s, as the arms race led to several states acquiring nu- clear weapons, the State Department (charged with for- eign policy), the Defense Department (responsible for F O C U S President Obama has made clear his determination to revitalize the U.S. commitment to arms control, while recognizing the many obstacles on the path.