US Mission Geneva

The United States is steadfast in its commitment to achieve a strong ATT that will respond to the adverse impacts of the illicit international arms trade on global peace and stability.

We will continue to support an Arms Trade Treaty because we believe it will make a valuable contribution to global security by helping to stem illicit arms transfers.

We believe that the most appropriate way of implementing legally-binding negative security assurances is through adherence to the relevant protocols to established nuclear weapon free zone treaties.

Following up on the the Bio-Transparency and Openness Initiative announced by Secretary Clinton at the December 2011 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) Review Conference, the U.S. hosted a visit July 24 to its National Interagency Biodefense Campus at Ft. Detrick.

The United States welcomes the progress made by the GGE at its first session last week in New York. The indicative program of work adopted by the GGE provides a solid framework for Experts to conduct a comprehensive review of the role of bilateral and multilateral mechanisms to strengthen stability in space.

The U.S. is prepared to engage in substantive discussions on space security and is willing to consider space arms control proposals and concepts that are equitable, effectively verifiable, and enhance the national security of the United States, partners, and allies.

“The conclusion of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) remains a vital and necessary step for nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. An FMCT is essential if we are to work toward a world without nuclear weapons, as President Obama highlighted in his 2009 Prague speech.”

The U.S. has been reducing our inventory of nuclear weapons for more than four decades. By September 2009, the U.S. nuclear stockpile has been reduced by 84% to approximately 5,000 nuclear warheads from its peak of approximately 31,000 nuclear warheads in 1967.

“Our governments did not send us here to endlessly discuss procedure and negotiate phantom programs of work, they, or certainly my government, sent us here to negotiate substance, beginning with this next step for nuclear disarmament.”