    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [May 16, 1997]
    [Pages 609-610]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Strengthening International Safeguards on Proliferation of
    Nuclear Weapons
    May 16, 1997

        On May 15 the international community took a major step toward
    significantly reducing the danger that any nation can secretly acquire a
    nuclear arsenal. Last September, in my speech at the United Nations, I
    called on the international community to strengthen the Nuclear Non-
    Proliferation Treaty and improve our ability to identify and isolate
    those states that seek to violate its rules. In the most dramatic
    strengthening of nuclear inspections in the last quarter-century, the
    International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its member states have
    agreed in Vienna to develop strong new tools to assist in tracking the
    use and location of nuclear materials around the world.
        During the last 4 years, we have made significant progress in
    curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and ending the dangerous
    legacy of cold war weapons stockpiles. But as the clandestine efforts of
    nations such as Iraq to acquire nuclear weapons have made clear, we must
    reinforce our ability to find and stop secret nuclear weapons programs.
    Only in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war were we able to discover
    the full scope of Iraq's activities and intentions.

    [[Page 610]]

        The strengthened safeguards system adopted by the IAEA will give
    international nuclear inspectors greater information and access to
    nuclear and related facilities worldwide. By accepting a new legally
    binding protocol, states will assume new safeguards obligations that
    will make all their nuclear activities more transparent--including by
    allowing inspections at all suspicious sites, not just at declared
    sites.
        I urge all nations to adopt as soon as possible appropriate
    protocols to their own safeguard agreements or to make other legally
    binding arrangements that will put this new system of safeguards in
    place. And I call on all nations that have not already signed the
    Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to do so without delay.
        Reducing the threat of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction
    is one of our highest obligations. Since I took office, we have made the
    Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty permanent, dramatically cut existing
    nuclear arsenals under the START treaties, and ratified the Chemical
    Weapons Convention that will outlaw poison gas forever. I look forward
    to working with the Senate as we seek ratification of the Comprehensive
    Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and as we seek congressional approval of this
    protocol and other arms control measures. Together, we must continue our
    efforts to provide the American people with real and lasting security.