As you know, the Treaty called for an international ban on nuclear weapons testing, both above and below ground. We, the United States, have not tested a nuclear weapon in seven years, but many other nations such as North Korea and Iran have just recently become nuclear powers, and are testing their weapons often. If passed, this Treaty would have allowed the U.S. to maintain international leadership, while strengthening the international coalition against further nuclear proliferation.

Many of the Treaty’s basic principles are base

No matter how the Treaty was defeated, it was still defeated and things to occur now that will ensure that America is serious about nuclear disarmament. Now that the vote is over, Americans need to be concerned about what this will do to our country. We can examine the treaty, decide where it went wrong and try to amend it, or we could start over.

Knowing the poor relationship that President Clinton had with the Senate, one can only hope that in the future this will not occur once again. Presidents of the past, such as George Bush who was able to pass many successful weapons treaties in his presidency, have all worked with the Senate to come to an agreement that pleased both parties. If you look back to the terms of Reagan and Bush, you can see that Republicans do not hold anything against nuclear testing. During the twelve years that these men were in office treaties such as START II (which limited our nuclear weapons to only 3,500), and the Chemical Weapons Convention (which outlawed poisonous gases) were passed (Boschwitz 19A). These treaties are just as binding as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would have been; yet they were passed.

d on years of legislation. It is not as if the world has suddenly decided that weapons are destructive and should be limited. The first anti-weapons legislation came in the Kennedy administration, and the trend was followed in administrations thereafter. Many Americans fear that by the sudden disregard for past policies and the lack of concern for international politics will create a rift between the United States and some foreign nations. International relations between the U.S. and countries like Russia had just began to make vast improvements, and now the defeat of a favorable Treaty will “destabilize the foundations of international relations” (Johnson).

At the current time there is no need for powerful nuclear weapons because international relations are positive. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would have created a stronger international summit, allowing for the downsizing of weaponry. Even in the event of a need for nuclear weapons our computer monitoring systems will have us up-to-date with testing. Also, on the future U.S. agenda for defense systems is the National Missile Defense system, which attempts to develop anti-missile missiles (“Consensus”). This system will be constructed despite the regulations in the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty specifically to ensure that Americans are safe without the actual testing of nuclear weapons.

Another way to possibly pass this treaty through the Senate is for President Clinton to re-submit it after amendments are made (Associated Press). At least two Republican Senators, Jon Kyl and James Inhofe, have already counted this solution out of the possibilities, saying, “it will not come up again, because the United States cannot unilaterally amend the treaty” (Associated Press). However, it is possible that with time the Treaty will become trustworthy after it has been in affect in other countries. When these countries are able to adequately protect their citizens with a non-nuclear Treaty in affect, hopefully America’s doubtful will reconsider. President Clinton will not be in office long enough to re-submit the Treaty, but the next president would be able to, without doubting our technology nor our security, return the Treaty to the Senate for another vote.

The Senate may also have felt that they were not given the right amount of say in things. President Clinton signed the treaty in 1996, without first going to the Senate and introducing the Treaty to test if it would be ratified when the time came. The president does not have to consult with the Senate before signing treaties but in most cases it is safer to test out the reaction before it comes down to a deadline. As a direct result of a lack of communication, the Senate refused to postpone the Treaty or to give it its needed ti

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