Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists: President Barack Obama recently
spoke of the importance of the
Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), as has every
president since
Lyndon
B. Johnson who signed the treaty in 1968.
Yet all presidents to a lesser or greater degree have weakened
the treaty, through lax enforcement, by carving out exceptions
for certain countries, or by just ignoring it.We have come to
the point now that North Korea, which signed the treaty in
1985, is now mocking it. And in all the discussions over a
possible Iranian bomb, no one seems to think the treaty's
90-day withdrawal clause would be much of a hurdle if Tehran
decided to leave the NPT.If President Obama really wants to
strengthen the treaty, a good—and necessary—place
to start is to make it much more difficult for any of the 189
member states to leave the NPT, say
Henry
Sokolski and
Victor
Gilinsky.It is at odds with the NPT's purpose to allow a
country to import or develop technology under the treaty's
cover and then walk out to make bombs. At a minimum, before
legally exiting the treaty, a country should have to clear its
NPT obligations by returning whatever it got from others based
on the understanding that it was a good-faith treaty
member.
Yet all presidents to a lesser or greater degree have weakened
the treaty, through lax enforcement, by carving out exceptions
for certain countries, or by just ignoring it.We have come to
the point now that North Korea, which signed the treaty in
1985, is now mocking it. And in all the discussions over a
possible Iranian bomb, no one seems to think the treaty's
90-day withdrawal clause would be much of a hurdle if Tehran
decided to leave the NPT.If President Obama really wants to
strengthen the treaty, a good—and necessary—place
to start is to make it much more difficult for any of the 189
member states to leave the NPT, say
Henry
Sokolski and
Victor
Gilinsky.It is at odds with the NPT's purpose to allow a
country to import or develop technology under the treaty's
cover and then walk out to make bombs. At a minimum, before
legally exiting the treaty, a country should have to clear its
NPT obligations by returning whatever it got from others based
on the understanding that it was a good-faith treaty
member.
