McCain, Nuclear Security, and Disarmament: a Glass Half-Full

Earlier this week, McCain gave a speech in Denver in which the good Senator spoke of the need to take the threat from nuclear proliferation more seriously:

A quarter of a century ago, President Ronald Reagan declared, "our dream is to see the day when nuclear weapons will be banished from the face of the Earth." That is my dream, too. It is a distant and difficult goal. And we must proceed toward it prudently and pragmatically, and with a focused concern for our security and the security of allies who depend on us. But the Cold War ended almost twenty years ago, and the time has come to take further measures to reduce dramatically the number of nuclear weapons in the world's arsenals. It is time for the United States to show the kind of leadership the world expects from us, in the tradition of American presidents who worked to reduce the nuclear threat to mankind.

This is not the first time McCain has broached the subject of late. Speaking to the World Affairs Council in LA two months ago, he said:

We also share an obligation with the world's other great powers to halt and reverse the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The United States and the international community must work together and do all in our power to contain and reverse North Korea's nuclear weapons program and to prevent Iran -- a nation whose President has repeatedly expressed a desire to wipe Israel from the face of the earth -- from obtaining a nuclear weapon. We should work to reduce nuclear arsenals all around the world, starting with our own. Forty years ago, the five declared nuclear powers came together in support of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and pledged to end the arms race and move toward nuclear disarmament. The time has come to renew that commitment. We do not need all the weapons currently in our arsenal. The United States should lead a global effort at nuclear disarmament consistent with our vital interests and the cause of peace.

Tuesday's speech, on the whole, is a bit of a mixed bag. As for nuclear testing, McCain wants to appear tough:

This would include taking another look at the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to see what can be done to overcome the shortcomings that prevented it from entering into force.

Well, one of "the shortcomings that prevented [the CTBT] from entering into force" was McCain's own vote against it in the Senate, when it was up for ratification by the US in 1999. And it's not certain just how he wants "to take another look at it" in a "dialogue with our allies." 144 states (pdf), many of which include staunch allies of the US (the continent of Europe, for example), have already ratified the treaty. Good luck revisiting that.

As for new nuclear weapons production for the US, McCain calls for "[cancelling] all further work on the so-called Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, a weapon that does not make strategic or political sense." Hmm, perhaps one of his advisors should let him know RNEP has already been dropped. Meanwhile, his language elsewhere in the speech reveals an implicit fondness for the RRW.

Lastly, some keen observers might mistake some of McCain's language for that of his potential predecessor:

But I will seek to reduce the size of our nuclear arsenal to the lowest number possible consistent with our security requirements and global commitments.

Sound familiar? It should. Here was then-Governor George W. Bush on the campaign trail in 2000:

As president, I will ask the secretary of defense to conduct an assessment of our nuclear force posture and determine how best to meet our security needs. While the exact number of weapons can come only from such an assessment, I will pursue the lowest possible number consistent with our national security.

I'm done complaining. A ban on the production of fissile materials, increasing funding for Cooperative Threat Reduction measures, a cap on the spread of enrichment and reprocessing technologies and guaranteed fuel supplies for civilian programs - things all touted by McCain - are all fine by me, for the record.

Oh, and in case you're wondering just where reductions would or should begin from, Hans Kristensen keeps an authoritative tab on all known arsenal sizes here.