Robert Johansen, in Bulletin of the Peace Studies Institute, Manchester College, Vol. 30 (Fall 2000): 7-12

A careful examination of arguments raised by leading U.S. Senators who refused to ratify the treaty that would have banned nuclear weapons tests reveals more about Senators’ faith than about U.S. national interests. Senators opposing the treaty demonstrate more faith in allowing testing than in legal constraints and treaty-mandated international verification systems. Nonetheless, the security consequences of ratifying the treaty and implementing its inspections provisions, although never capable of providing ironclad assurances against treaty violations, would be far more likely to protect U.S. security and discourage the spread of nuclear weapons than rejecting the treaty.

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