Editor's Note

Daniel Horner

Many aspects of President Barack Obama’s arms control and foreign policy agenda have been analyzed at great length; two of our articles this month focus on areas that have received less attention.

Catherine M. Kelleher and Scott L. Warren address the issue of tactical nuclear weapons. Nuclear arms control has been a high-profile part of Obama’s first months in office, but discussions have centered on strategic arsenals. Kelleher and Warren focus on tactical weapons, arguing that their elimination could be part of the first phase of a move toward the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The military justification for continued deployment of these weapons is weak, but alliance policies and politics could complicate efforts to get rid of them, Kelleher and Warren say.

In another article, Victoria Samson examines the options for the Obama administration’s review of U.S. space policy. She argues for an approach that emphasizes multilateral collaboration but says that formal treaties “might not be the only way, or even the best, to improve space’s sustainability.”

Tactical nuclear weapons and space are areas in which the Obama administration will have an opportunity to make significant policy changes. In other areas, the administration already is doing so. One example is Obama’s announcement last month of a new approach toward missile defense in Europe; another was the U.S. sponsorship of a UN Security Council resolution on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. In our news section, Cole Harvey reports on both events.

A key part of the administration’s arms control agenda is its support of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). As Meri Lugo reports, that policy was on display last month at a conference at the United Nations, where Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton laid out the arguments for ratification.

The CTBT also is the subject of our Looking Back article, in which Daryl G. Kimball examines the 1999 defeat of the treaty in the Senate. To ensure a different outcome this time, the Obama administration must study that vote and draw the right lessons from it, he says.

Finally, Christopher Paine offers an appreciation of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who died in August. As Paine notes, the Massachusetts Democrat played a large role in starting and sustaining many of the arms control and disarmament initiatives that are gaining momentum today.