III 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 562 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation 

of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) continues to make an invaluable contribution 

to United States and international security, 50 years after it opened 

for signature on July 1, 1968. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 28, 2018 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. SMITH, Mr. MARKEY, and Mr. BROWN) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 

Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Treaty on the 

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) continues 

to make an invaluable contribution to United States and 

international security, 50 years after it opened for signature on July 1, 1968. 

Whereas the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear 

Weapons (NPT) opened for signature 50 years ago on 

July 1, 1968; 

Whereas the United States and former Soviet Union averted 

a catastrophic nuclear exchange during the October 1962 

Cuban Missile Crisis, which led to a series of bilateral 


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•SRES 562 IS 

and multilateral agreements to lessen the chance of nuclear war, including the NPT; 

Whereas President John F. Kennedy predicted in 1963 that 

as many as 25 countries would acquire nuclear weapons 

by 1970 absent a treaty to control nuclear weapons; 

Whereas the United States Senate provided its advice and 

consent to the NPT on March 13, 1969, with a vote on 

ratification of 83 to 15; 

Whereas the NPT has grown to include 191 State Parties, 

making an irreplaceable contribution to United States national and international security by preventing the spread 

of nuclear weapons; 

Whereas Article III of the NPT obligates each non-nuclear 

weapon state to the NPT to conclude a Safeguards 

Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency 

(IAEA) to verify treaty compliance, 174 of which are 

Comprehensive Safeguards Agreements crafted to detect 

the diversion of nuclear materials from peaceful to nonpeaceful uses; 

Whereas the 2018 Department of Defense Nuclear Posture 

Review affirms, ‘‘The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 

(NPT) is a cornerstone of the nuclear nonproliferation 

regime. It plays a positive role in building consensus for 

non-proliferation and enhances international efforts to 

impose costs on those that would pursue nuclear weapons 

outside the Treaty.’’; 

Whereas the success of the NPT has and will continue to depend upon the full implementation by all State Parties of 

the Treaty’s three mutually reinforcing pillars: nonproliferation, access to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, 

and disarmament; 


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Whereas over the past half century, the United States has exhibited leadership in strengthening each of the NPT’s 

three pillars for the global good, including— 

(1) reducing its nuclear weapons stockpile of more 

than 85 percent from its Cold War heights of 31,225 in 

parallel with equally massive reductions of Russia’s stockpile through bilateral coordination; 

(2) cooperating with Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and 

Belarus—to facilitate the surrender of nuclear weapons 

on their soil after the fall of the Soviet Union—leading 

to each country’s accession to the NPT as non-nuclear 

weapons states; 

(3) providing voluntary contributions to the IAEA 

Peaceful Uses Initiative exceeded more than 

$320,000,000 since 2010 to help in the treatment of cancer and in other life-saving applications; and 

(4) extending deterrence to United States allies in 

the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Japan, 

and the Republic of Korea—which is an unmistakable 

demonstration of the United States commitment to collective security; 

Whereas heightened geopolitical tensions in recent years have 

made cooperation on nonproliferation and arms control 

issues with the Russian Federation more challenging; 

Whereas a range of actions by the Government of the Russian Federation has led to a deterioration in bilateral relations with the United States, including Russia’s brazen 

interference in the 2016 United States presidential elections, its violation of the Treaty between the United 

States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range 

and Shorter-Range Missiles (commonly known as the 


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‘‘INF Treaty’’), signed at Washington, DC, December 8, 

1987, and entered into force June 1, 1988, its illegal annexation of Crimea, its invasion of Eastern Ukraine, and 

its destabilizing actions in Syria; and 

Whereas within a difficult environment, preserving agreements that continue to contribute to United States and 

global security, particularly the Treaty between the 

United States of America and the Russian Federation on 

Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of 

Strategic Offensive Arms, signed April 8, 2010, and entered into force February 5, 2011 (commonly known as 

the ‘‘New START Treaty’’), is all the more essential, and 

that to that end, the Department of State confirmed in 

February 2018 that Russia had met New START’s Central Treaty Limits and stated that ‘‘implementation of 

the New START Treaty enhances the safety and security 

of the United States’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 

2 (1) any United States negotiated agreement 

3 with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 

4 (DPRK) on denuclearization must require it to re5 turn to the NPT as a Party in good standing; 

6 (2) the United States must maintain support 

7 for the IAEA through its assessed and voluntary 

8 contributions and promote the universal adoption of 

9 the IAEA Additional Protocol; 

10 (3) the United States and its allies should pur11 sue diplomatic efforts to ensure that the Islamic Re12 public of Iran remains in compliance with the NPT, 


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1 as the 2016 and 2017 Reports on Adherence to and 

2 Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, 

3 and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments 

4 both affirmed; 

5 (4) the United States should enter into negotia6 tions on the extension of the New START Treaty 

7 until 2026, which would make any current or future 

8 Russian strategic systems of a range greater than 

9 5,500 kilometers accountable under the Treaty; 

10 (5) the United States should work to resolve 

11 Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty; 

12 (6) all countries who have yet to ratify the 

13 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, done at 

14 New York September 10, 1996, including the United 

15 States, should venture to create the conditions that 

16 allow for entry-into-force of the Treaty, and should 

17 observe a moratorium on nuclear testing until that 

18 time; and 

19 (7) the United States Government should con20 tinue to encourage opportunities for cooperation 

21 with other nuclear possessing states to reduce the 

22 salience, number, and role of nuclear weapons in 

23 global military strategies. 

Æ 


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