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26 Stan. J. Int'l L. 205 (1989-1990)
Phasing Out Nuclear Weapons Tests - The Belmont Conference on Nuclear Test Ban Policy

handle is hein.journals/stanit26 and id is 219 raw text is: Phasing Out Nuclear Weapons Tests* THE BELMONT CONFERENCE ON NUCLEAR TEST BAN POLICY DAVID A. KOPLOW AND PHILIP G. SCHRAG, RAPPORTEURS** INTRODUCTION For decades, an important goal of the United States' national security policy has been to secure the agreement of other na- tions-particularly the Soviet Union-to achieve mutual, verifia- ble restraints on the testing of nuclear weapons.' Other nations have shared this objective, and they have repeatedly called for a prompt, permanent, negotiated end to nuclear testing.2 But it Copyright © 1989 by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. ** David Koplow, A.B. 1973, Harvard College, J.D. 1978, Yale Law School, and Philip Schrag, A.B. 1964, Harvard College, LL.B. 1967, Yale Law School, are Professors of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. I For histories of early test ban negotiations, see U.S. DEP'T OF STATE, GENEVA CONFERENCE ON THE DISCONTINUANCE OF NUCLEAR WEAPON TESTS (1961). For an excel- lent general summary of test ban negotiations over three decades, see COMM. ON INT'L SECURITY & ARMS CONTROL, NAT'L ACAD. OF SCIENCES, NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL BACK- GROUND AND ISSUES 187-223 (1985) [hereinafter NAS NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL]. Recent studies of test ban policy include B. LALL & P. BRANDES, BANNING NUCLEAR TESTS (1987); N. JOECK & H. YORK, COUNTDOWN ON THE COMPREHENSIVE BAN (1986); S. FET- TER, TOWARD A COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN (1988). The texts of the three nuclear arms control treaties that were negotiated between 1963 and the present are collected in U.S. ARMS CONTROL & DISARMAMENT AGENCY, UNITED STATES ARMS CONTROL AND DISARMA- MENT AGREEMENTS: TEXTS AND HISTORIES OF NEGOTIATIONS (1982) [hereinafter TREATY TEXTS]. 2 See 12 U.N. DISARMAMENT Y.B. 155-81 (1987) (a test ban was a major issue at the United Nations Special Sessions on Disarmament and has been the subject of 15 resolu- tions adopted by the General Assembly between 1983 and 1986). During the late 1950s and early 1960s a test ban treaty was seen throughout the world as the centerpiece of global arms control efforts, surpassing in urgency and public visibility even the problem of negotiating limitations on strategic offensive arms. See TREATY TEXTS, supra note 1, at 34. Several modern arms control treaties, including the Limited Test Ban Treaty, Aug. 5, 1963, 14 U.S.T. 1313, T.I.A.S. No. 5433 [hereinafter LTBT] and the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, July 1, 1968, 21 U.S.T. 483, T.I.A.S. No. 6839 [hereinafter NPT], have included references to the continuing importance and desirability of a comprehen- sive test ban treaty. Banning nuclear tests continues to be an important focus of attention in many coun- 205