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Introduction

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was signed

by the United States on September 24, 1996, and transmit-

ted by President Clinton to the U.S. Senate almost one

year later, on September 22, 1997.  The CTBT is a treaty

of unlimited duration that bans nuclear weapons test

explosions and all other nuclear explosions.  The treaty

establishes an international organization, located in

Vienna, Austria, that will have an executive council, a

technical secretariat, and a conference of all the states

that are party to the treaty.  The organization will over-

see the treaty's verification regime, called the

International Monitoring System (IMS), and an International

Data Center.  The IMS consists of four types of monitor-

ing, including seismological.  Requests for on-site inspec-

tions will require approval by a vote of at least 30 of

the treaty's 51-member Executive Council.

The CTBT will enter into force only when all 44

nations with nuclear power or research reactors, or both,

have ratified it.  If the CTBT has not entered into force

by October 1999, nations that have ratified it may convene

annually to consider ways to accelerate the ratification

and entry into force of the treaty.

In the case of the United States, ratification

requires that the U.S. Senate give its advice and consent.

Because the CTBT is likely to have a profound impact on

the reliability and future safety of the U.S. nuclear

deterrent, the treaty's ratification is contentious.

This paper does not address the debate regarding abo-

lition of nuclear weapons.  It is now, and likely will

continue to be, the policy of the United States to rely on

nuclear deterrence for its security.  President Clinton

has stated,

As part of our national security strategy, the

United States must and will retain strategic

nuclear forces sufficient to deter any future

hostile foreign leadership with access to strate-

gic nuclear forces from acting against our vital

interests and to convince it that seeking a

nuclear advantage would be futile.  In this

regard, I consider the maintenance of a safe and

reliable nuclear stockpile to be a supreme

national interest of the United States.1

Nuclear abolition is, however, at the heart of the

CTBT debate.  The preamble of the treaty clearly states