Proliferation experts say technology in place to verify nuclear test ban compliance

Ten years after the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty prohibiting nuclear test explosions, Ola Dahlman with the Preparatory Commission of the CTBT and David Hafemeister of the Ploughshares-funded Arms Control Association said technological innovations have increased the ability to verify that other nations are not testing weapons—a previous sticking point for lawmakers. Benn Tannenbaum of Ploughshares-funded AAAS Center for Science, Technology, and Security Policy (CSTSP) commented, “Part of the president’s case to Congress is going to be based on science and our ability to verify that nations will not be able to test without the world knowing.”