<<  <  >  >>

Page 23

The "International Norm" Argument Is Meaningless

CTBT proponents contend that the test ban will con-

strain even those who are not party to the agreement from

conducting nuclear tests because the treaty will create an

international norm against testing.  While law-abiding

nations may hesitate to break a norm, history demonstates

that some nations readily dismiss treaty norms.  The NPT

norm against the pursuit of nuclear weapons has been bro-

ken repeatedly, both by the treaty's parties and by non-

parties.  The norm was established when the treaty went

into effect in 1970.  The list of states that have broken

or are thought to have broken the norm includes Argentina,

Brazil, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan,

South Africa, South Korea, and Taiwan.  North Korea, for

example, produced plutonium in direct violation of the NPT

and continues to be in noncompliance with treaty require-

ments.

Another example of the failure of an international

norm is provided by the history of nonadherence of some

parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention

(BTWC) of 1972, which outlawed the possession of biologi-

cal weapons.  Iraq had signed but not acceded to the BTWC;

then it proceeded secretly to produce massive quantities

of biological agents.  The Soviet Union, and later Russia,

violated not only the norm but the treaty--a fact admitted

publicly by President Yeltsin.

In summary, the CTBT will not act as a significant

barrier to the spread of nuclear weapons to other coun-

tries.  Testing is not needed to acquire nuclear weapons;

the CTBT does little to bolster the nonproliferation

regime; and the international norm the CTBT would create

is as meaningless as similar norms created by some other

arms control treaties.

In addition to the serious security ramifications of

the CTBT for the United States, there may be political

downsides to the treaty as well.  The treaty creates an

international bureaucracy with a charter that includes a

carte blanche to pursue additional measures in support of

nuclear disarmament.

The Clinton CTBT Gives Extraordinary Powers to the

International CTBT Organization

Comprehensive test ban negotiations under the Carter

administration sought a trilateral treaty among the United

States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union.  The