    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [March 6, 2000]
    [Pages 392-393]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Treaty on the
    Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
    March 6, 2000

        Thirty years ago--March 5, 1970--the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation
    of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) entered into force. The countries that
    negotiated the NPT had clear and important goals. They wanted a safer,
    more secure world in which states not possessing nuclear weapons would
    forswear their acquisition, and in which states with nuclear weapons
    would work toward eliminating them. They wanted an effective
    verification system to confirm these commitments. And they wanted to
    ensure that countries could use the atom peacefully to improve the lives
    of their people without spurring nuclear weapons proliferation.
        On that day in 1970, 43 countries committed themselves to the vision
    of the NPT. Today, there are 187 parties. Over the past 30 years, the
    NPT has served as an increasingly important barrier to the spread of
    nuclear weapons. The United States remains committed to achieving
    universal adherence to the NPT and will continue working to bring all
    remaining countries into the treaty.
        The strength and effectiveness of the NPT today are a legacy of
    countless individuals who crafted and promoted this irreplaceable
    treaty. I am proud that during my administration the parties to the NPT
    made a major contribution to lasting peace and security by agreeing in
    1995 to make the treaty permanent.
        Adherence to the NPT, together with inspections called for in the
    treaty by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), provide
    assurance to countries that their neighbors' nuclear programs are
    peaceful. The United States strongly supports the IAEA and calls on
    other NPT parties to work with us in strengthening the IAEA's ability to
    ensure compliance with the treaty.
        Such compliance allows countries with nuclear technology to share
    the many peaceful benefits

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    of the atom, reducing the risk that this cooperation will not result in
    weapons activities. Improved human health, increased food production,
    and adequate supplies of clean water are only a few of the many ways in
    which nuclear techniques contribute to a better world.
        The NPT also calls for parties to ``pursue negotiations in good
    faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms
    race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament.'' Remarkable progress
    in nuclear disarmament has occurred since the end of the cold war. Under
    the START process, the United States and Russia have committed to reduce
    deployed strategic nuclear warheads by approximately two-thirds from
    cold war levels. We have agreed to a START III framework that would cut
    these arsenals by 80 percent from those peaks, and we will intensify our
    efforts to work with Russia to bring this agreement into effect.
    Already, the United States has eliminated some 59 percent of our overall
    nuclear weapons, and many U.S. facilities once dedicated to the
    production of nuclear weapons have been shut down, deactivated, or
    converted to other uses. Our nuclear weapons are no longer targeted
    against any country; our Army, Marine Corps, and surface and air Navy no
    longer deploy nuclear weapons; and our bomber force no longer stands on
    alert.
        NATO has reduced the number of nuclear warheads dedicated to its
    sub-strategic forces in Europe by 85 percent, and NATO's dual capable
    aircraft, the Alliance's only nuclear forces, are no longer maintained
    on alert status, and their readiness levels have been reduced from
    minutes to weeks.
        The United States and Russia are cooperating to ensure no further
    production of weapons-usable material, the safe storage of existing
    quantities of such material, and internationally supervised elimination
    of surplus stocks of nuclear materials.
        We will continue the U.S. moratorium on nuclear testing and work to
    establish a universal ban through the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
    Treaty. The Conference on Disarmament should take the next essential
    step for global nuclear disarmament by negotiating a fissile material
    cutoff treaty now, without conditions.
        The United States is committed to the ultimate elimination of all
    nuclear weapons. Achieving this goal will be neither easy nor rapid.
    Accordingly, the United States rededicates itself to work tirelessly and
    expeditiously to create conditions that will make possible even deeper
    reductions in nuclear weapons and, ultimately, their elimination.