U. S. Nuclear Weapons Policy; Independent Task Force Report No. 62

xxii, 125, [1] pages. Occasional footnotes. Acronyms. A Note on Definitions. Additional or Dissenting Views. Endnotes. Cover has slight wear and soiling. Task Force Members included Linton Brooks,Ashton Carter, John Deutch, John Gordon, Eugene Habiger, and Laura Holgate. Ink notations on page 113. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), founded in 1921, is a United States nonprofit think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs. It is headquartered in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C. Its membership, which numbers 4,900, has included senior politicians, former secretaries of state, CIA directors, bankers, lawyers, professors, and senior media figures. The CFR meetings convene government officials, global business leaders and prominent members of the intelligence and foreign-policy community to discuss international issues. CFR publishes the journal Foreign Affairs, and runs the David Rockefeller Studies Program, which influences foreign policy by making recommendations to the presidential administration and diplomatic community, testifying before Congress, interacting with the media, and publishing on foreign policy issues. The Task Force report, titled U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, focuses on near-term policies to reduce nuclear weapons to the lowest possible level consistent with maintaining a credible deterrent, while also ensuring that the U.S. nuclear arsenal is safe, secure, and reliable for as long as it is needed. "The imperative before the Obama administration," the report says, "is to use all available tools to prevent the use and further acquisition of nuclear weapons." The Task Force is comprised of eminent leaders of the national security community and is directed by CFR Senior Fellow Charles D. Ferguson.The report notes that "Iran's nuclear program poses the most significant challenge to strengthening the rules-based nonproliferation regime and preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East." The Task Force underscores that bolstering the global nonproliferation regime is the best way to contain the threat of proliferation posed not only by Iran, but also by North Korea and other potential nuclear states.Recommendations: The report recommends that U.S. policymakers take the following steps to lessen nuclear threats and promote cooperation on disarmament: state clearly that it is a U.S. goal to prevent nuclear weapons from ever being used, by either a state or a nonstate actor, and that the sole purpose of U.S. nuclear weapons is providing deterrence for itself and its allies; reaffirm security assurances to allies; continue to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons and do so in a transparent manner, and take the international lead in reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in security policy; seek further reductions in nuclear forces, beginning with a bilateral strategic arms control agreement with Russia; seek to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), taking as many steps as possible toward this end before the Nonproliferation Treaty Review (NPT) Conference in May 2010; call for a moratorium on the production of fissile material for weapons purposes; strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency's vital role of containing proliferation, including seeking universal adoption of the Additional Protocol and providing adequate and sustainable funding to the Agency; work cooperatively to ensure that every state with nuclear weapons or weapons-usable materials -- even those that remain outside the Nonproliferation Treaty like India and Pakistan -- implements best nuclear security practices.…