With regard to the five Nuclear Weapon States, China, France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States, an agreement is made not to transfer any nuclear weapons technology or control of any nuclear weapon technology to any other state, even other Nuclear Weapon States. The remaining 182 parties to the treaty have agreed to not seek the development of nuclear weapons technology nor be the recipients of any such technology or its control. In addition, under Article VI, the Parties of the Treaty agree to seek total nuclear disarmament "at an early date (NPT)-.
In an effort toward total disarmament and preventing non-Nuclear Weapons States from developing such weaponry, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was born and signed by the Parties of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The CTBT, in essence prohibits its Parties from conducting or aiding in the conduction of any nuclear explosion. Although this treaty was signed by President Clinton in 1996, it has yet to be ratified and President Bush "indicated early in his tenure that he will not ask the US Congress to ratify the CTBT (projectcensored.com)."" This surprising decision comes despite the fact that all of the United States NATO partners not only signed the treaty but have already ratified it. In fact, in 2001, Jack Crouch II, then a nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, said with regard to nuclear testing, "I think that considering the resumption of testing is something that the administration ought to consider (clw.org)."" .
The ambiguity of this issue is widespread throughout the American government. "Senate Republicans do not agree on the CTBT. Some hard-liners like Jesse Helms (R-NC) have called upon the Bush Administration to "repudiate" the CTBT; others such as Jim Bunning (R-KY) want new "mini-nukes" that would require test blasts. On the other hand, other Republican Senators, such as John McCain (R-AZ) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE), suggest that the Senate might reconsider the CTBT at some point in the future (clw.