The April 2010 Nuclear Security Summit: One More Step Toward the Mountaintop

Issue Brief
The April 2010 Nuclear Security Summit: One More Step Toward the Mountaintop
Authors: Sarah J. Diehl and Paula Humphrey
Monterey Institute for International Studies
James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies

In their landmark January 2008 Wall Street Journal editorial, the Four Statesmen—George Shultz, William Perry, Henry Kissinger, and Sam Nunn—urged world leaders to chart a course to the elusive "mountaintop" of a nuclear-free world. They listed as one important step along the way the acceleration of "work to provide the highest possible standards of security for nuclear weapons, as well as for nuclear materials everywhere in the world, to prevent terrorists from acquiring a nuclear bomb." Following the Four Statesmen's roadmap, in July 2009, President Obama proposed a summit to challenge world leaders to "discuss steps...to secure loose nuclear materials; combat smuggling; and deter, detect, and disrupt attempts at nuclear terrorism."[1] As part of the broader nuclear disarmament goals he originally outlined in Prague, Obama convened this group to foster "an international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years."[2] On 12-13 April 2010, the United States hosted the first Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C., bringing together 49 world leaders in an effort to foster cooperation and consensus on one further step toward nuclear zero.

The Summit participants issued a broad Communiqué that affirmed their dedication to preventing nuclear terrorism and adopted the four-year timeline proposed by Obama. Participating countries and organizations also agreed on a more specific, but voluntary Work Plan. Although many controversial issues bubbled beneath the surface of the Summit, the convened nations appeared to relegate such disagreements to the sidelines to support the relatively non-controversial goal of nuclear security. Following quickly after the signing of the New START Treaty between the United States and Russia, and the revamped U.S. Nuclear Posture Review, the Summit represents an effort by the U.S. administration to clearly indicate its dedication to nuclear security and its cooperation with other nations on steps toward nuclear disarmament ahead of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty's (NPT) Review Conference in May 2010. This issue brief examines the background and outcomes of the Summit and analyzes its ongoing importance.