Securing nuclear materials away from terrorists and rogue states is the focus of a two-day, international summit aimed at safeguarding the world’s most dangerous stockpiles.
The high-powered event will showcase President Obama’s efforts at leading a worldwide move toward reducing nuclear weapons and follows the release of a new U.S. policy on atomic weapons and the signing of a new, arms reduction treaty with Russia.
Many of the 47 nations attending the two-day summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center Monday and Tuesday are not nuclear powers — such as Finland, Norway and Italy — but share an interest in keeping them safe and may help fund an effort to do so.
Other participating countries have nuclear programs, such as Pakistan and India, but have not signed on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel, which also never signed and is believed to have such weapons, also was invited the summit.
Underscoring the testy international dynamics at play in the summit, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled plans to attend after learning some Muslim leaders planned to challenge Israel’s presumptive weapons systems during the meet.
Not every country is sending its top leader, however both Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will attend and meet privately with Obama.
A prevailing theme of the leaders’ talks is expected to be possible new United Nations sanctions against Iran, and North Korea’s continued disregard for existing sanctions. Neither Iran nor North Korea were invited to attend.
The summit is not expected to produce much in the way of specific initiatives. But it is the start of a dialogue toward Obama’s larger ambitions for building toward a world free of nuclear weapons.
“He believes that nuclear weapons, nonproliferation nuclear security, is a top priority for this administration when it comes to national security, because really there’s no greater threat of greater consequence to the American people than the threat placed by nuclear weapons if they fall into the wrong hands,” said Ben Rhodes, White House national security advisor for strategic communication.
To that end, the White House recently released a new, Nuclear Posture Review that reduced the nation’s reliance on nuclear weapons for defense and halted development of new atomic weapons.
In the Czech Republic, where one year ago he delivered a speech outlining his vision for a world free of nuclear weapons, Obama signed a treaty with Medvedev agreeing to reduce each country’s nuclear arsenal by one-third.
Sharon Squassoni, director of the Proliferation Prevention Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the summit collaboration is a bit “mundane” but important for keeping nuclear materials away from terrorists and rogue states.
“The first step in obtaining widespread cooperation is agreeing that there is a problem; the second step is agreeing to take action,” Squassoni said. “The third step may be putting time, money, and effort into solving the problem.”
