

It is difficult to predict how public opinion will affect disarmament dynamics. However, it could act as a brake on disarmament progress rather than as an accelerator.

The Obama administration’s new Nuclear Posture Review reduces the role and number of U.S. nuclear weapons, identifies nuclear terrorism as the principal threat to the United States, and works to maintain a stable strategic relationship with China.

Ultimately, the challenge of enforcement is more difficult and important than the process of verification for securing a world without nuclear weapons.

The prospect of enforcing a ban on the possession or use of nuclear weapons would require addressing similar difficulties to those faced in abolishing nuclear weapons entirely.

Governments should commission their defense research institutions to assess whether and how multilateral nuclear disarmament could be managed in nuclear-armed states to reach lower numbers.

The Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review reflects modern reality and gives momentum to President Obama's long-term goal of living in a world without nuclear weapons.

President Obama's vision of a world without nuclear weapons will require step-by-step progress on disarmament by nuclear-armed states, reciprocated by step-by-step progress toward strengthening the nonproliferation regime by non-nuclear-weapon states.

The consideration of nuclear abolition is highly speculative, but keeping the long-term goal in mind while addressing near-term security challenges can achieve more good than harm.

The Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review gives much-needed momentum to the nuclear agenda President Obama set out in Prague last year.

High-level officials from nuclear-weapon states and non-nuclear-weapon states should consult one another directly on disarmament initiatives and to seek agreement on corresponding nonproliferation measures.