Three NPT Snapshots – and Some Lessons and Implications for Rebuilding U.S.-Russian Cooperation
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Working Draft Three NPT Snapshots – and Some Lessons and Implications for Rebuilding U.S.-Russian Cooperation Dr. Lewis A. Dunn November 30, 2016 Prepared for US-Russian Dialogue on the NPT Review Process: Lessons Learned (1970-2015) and Steps Ahead (2016-2020) Geneva, Switzerland December 10-11, 2016 The views herein are those of the author not necessarily those of SAIC or any of its sponsoring organizations Three NPT Snapshots – and Some Lessons and Implications for Rebuilding U.S.-Russian Cooperation During the Cold War, nuclear non-proliferation often stood out in the midst of the wider confrontation as one area of engagement and cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Within that area, Washington and Moscow took the lead in negotiating the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, most often referred to as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or the NPT – and later cooperated to sustain that Treaty and eventually gain its indefinite extension. With renewed political-military confrontation between the United States and Russia, it is timely to revisit the earlier history of cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation and specifically the NPT. Doing so may help to identify possible lessons for rebuilding habits of cooperation between the two countries as one part of a more comprehensive strategy for slowing and then reversing a steady slide into a new Cold War.1 The following paper briefly explores three “snapshots” of U.S.-Russian NPT cooperation: the initial negotiation of the NPT in the mid-1960s; the sustaining of the NPT’s credibility at the 1985 NPT Review Conference; and the Indefinite Extension of the NPT in 1995. For each snapshot, the discussion first describes the overall geopolitical context; the incentives and obstacles to NPT cooperation; and the most prominent specific dimensions of U.S.- Soviet/Russian cooperation. Again focused on a specific snapshot, the paper then puts forward some explanations of successful cooperation. By way of concluding the overall paper, some cross-cutting lessons drawn from all three snapshots and their implications for rebuilding U.S.- Russian habits of cooperation on NPT matters (including Article VI and nuclear disarmament) are explored. 1 For my views on what a comprehensive U.S. strategy to avoid a new Cold War could entail see Lewis A. Dunn, “Redefining the U.S. Agenda for Nuclear Disarmament: Analysis and Reflections,” Livermore Papers on Global Security No. 1 Center for Global Security Research, October 2016, pp. 57-61. https://cgsr.llnl.gov/content/assets/docs/CGSR_Document_LLNL-TR-701463_103116.pdf 1 Negotiation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Throughout the process from the 1961 United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for negotiation of a non-proliferation treaty to the opening for signature on July 1, 1968 of the NPT, the United States and the Soviet Union consulted each other and as the negotiations advanced, cooperated closely in crafting the new Treaty. Over time, Washington and Moscow had to work through several very difficult and critical issues on which their going-in positions differed significantly, particularly the Article I “no transfer” obligation and the Article III “safeguards” obligation. Their successful cooperation reflected a strong congruence of U.S. and Soviet strategic interests.2 Geopolitical Context. Turning to some of the most important dimensions of the geopolitical context, the negotiation of the NPT took place against the backdrop of the Cold War military confrontation in the heart of Europe. The Group of Soviet Forces was deployed in East Germany and seen by the United States and its NATO allies to pose a continuing military threat. To buttress deterrence and to reassure a nervous West German government, the United States was in the process of deploying significant numbers of tactical nuclear weapons to NATO Europe and had initiated so-called Programs of Cooperation which entailed dual U.S. and allies’ control over nuclear weapons in the event of a European conflict. Equally important, there was ongoing U.S. and allies’ consideration of the creation of a possible Multilateral Nuclear Force (MLF) that would have entailed deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons on ships manned both by 2 The following discussion draws heavily on George Bunn and John B. Rhinelander, “The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Then and Now,” Arms Control Today https://armscontrol.org/act/2008_07-08/lookingback.asp#bio; George Bunn, “Brief History of NPT Safeguards Article,” NPTNegHis.ArtIII.6Febr.06; George Bunn, “The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty: History and Current Problems” https://armscontro.org/taxonomy/term/69; “The Impulse towards a Safer World” 40th Anniversary of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty – set of declassified documents on the negotiating history complied by the National Security Archive, www.nsarchive.org.; See Interview of Ambassador Roland Timerbaev, Conducted by Rich Hooper and Jenni Rissanen June 14, 2007 – Vienna, Austria, cgs.pnnl.gov/fois/doclib/Timerbaev(transcript)2.pdf; and Roland Timerbaev, “In Memoriam: George Bunn (1925- 2013), https://www. armscontrol.org/taxonomy/term/69). 2 U.S. and some NATO countries. For its part, the Soviet Union was “fighting like hell against the multilateral force because they were afraid that the Germans might get access to a nuclear weapon.”3 Growing concerns about nuclear proliferation also were an important part of the context for U.S.-Russian cooperation. In part, this concern was more general: U.S. estimates at the time were that absent effective non-proliferation, upwards of 20-30 countries could seek to acquire nuclear weapons in the decades ahead; the Soviets shared the U.S. concern about future proliferation but also thought that effective international action could prevent such runaway proliferation.4 China’s test of a nuclear weapon in 1964 as well as ongoing debates about acquiring nuclear weapons in other countries reinforced these concerns. Projections at the time of a coming wave of widespread use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes were another factor. But for Moscow – and somewhat less so Washington – there also was a more specific concern that West Germany could seek to acquire nuclear weapons. Here, too, West Germany’s expanding reliance on nuclear energy added to that concern. For both Washington and Moscow memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis provided part of the background. In that crisis, the two countries’ leaderships had approached the brink of a nuclear war and come away with a recognition of the importance of finding new ways to manage their own nuclear relationship as well as of the dangers of nuclear war from whatever source. Six months later, the quick and successful negotiation in June 1963 of the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) both signaled that recognition and demonstrated their will as well as ability to cooperate. 3 See Interview of Ambassador Roland Timerbaev, Conducted by Rich Hooper and Jenni Rissanen June 14, 2007 – Vienna, Austria, cgs.pnnl.gov/fois/doclib/Timerbaev(transcript)2.pdf, p. 6. 4 See “Interview with Roland Timerbaev” Part of “War and Peace in the Nuclear Age,” http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_ED432881A740475493E7664F1DD93816 3 Incentives and Obstacles to Cooperation. The most important incentive for cooperation was a shared interest in nuclear non-proliferation. Both countries wanted to constrain any possible West German pursuit of nuclear weapons; both countries wanted to prevent nuclear proliferation globally. Nonetheless, the relative importance of these two concerns, as noted above, varied. Initially, U.S. support for a possible MLF was the most significant obstacle to cooperation. Indeed, not until the United States signaled its readiness to Moscow to set aside the MLF concept did U.S.-Soviet negotiations begin on the possible elements of a non-proliferation treaty. Even after that U.S. policy shift, difficulties persisted in working out the specific language of the Article I “no transfer” provision, reflecting Soviet opposition to U.S. nuclear- cooperation arrangements with its NATO allies and U.S. unwillingness to renounce all such cooperation. Reaching agreement also proved difficult on the eventual language in Article III on inspections and “safeguards.” Here, a Soviet emphasis that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections should take place in EURATOM countries clashed with those countries’ reluctance to accept such IAEA inspections. In both cases, the U.S. need to consult closely on these matters with its NATO allies, including especially West Germany, was a continuing requirement and an obstacle to Soviet-U.S. bilateral cooperation to find mutually acceptable compromises on outstanding issues. Dimensions of U.S.-Soviet Cooperation. Once the United States had decided internally in 1966 to set aside the MLF concept, U.S. and Soviet officials began a continuing process of official negotiations, consultations, and sometimes informal engagement to resolve their differences on the most critical outstanding issues. The outcome would be the development of 4 identical draft treaties tabled at different points in the ongoing multilateral negotiation in the 18- Nation Disarmament Committee (ENDC) in Geneva. In particular, during 1966, a working group comprised of three Russians and three Americans developed mutually acceptable language for the “no transfers” provision of Article I and the “not to receive the transfer” provision of Article II.5 Two key players were George Bunn on the American side and Roland Timerbaev on Soviet side. The key compromise reflected an American readiness (with West German concurrence) to drop the MLF and a Soviet readiness to live with limited U.S. Programs of Cooperation with NATO allies but stopping short of any allied peacetime control of nuclear weapons. The initial result was the tabling of identical draft treaties by Washington and Moscow in August 1967 – absent, however, any safeguards-inspections provision because of continuing U.S.-Soviet differences or any nuclear disarmament Article VI obligation given the two countries’ focus exclusively on non- proliferation.