Last month, President Barack Obama gave a groundbreaking speech in Prague committing the US to a nuclear weapons-free world. In doing so, he addressed the grave threat posed by nuclear weapons and the steps he plans to take to curb those dangers. Specific steps toward achieving this goal were outlined, including negotiating a new treaty with Russia by year’s end, “immediately and aggressively” pursuing ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), ending the production of fissile materials that can be used in nuclear weapons, and securing all vulnerable nuclear material worldwide within four years.

Little more than 100 days into his term, many are looking at what steps the Obama administration has taken to fulfill the goals he laid out in Prague.

Secretary of State Clinton has reset strategic talks with Russia (albeit somewhat awkwardly) after years of troubled relations. Negotiations with Russia on a new nuclear weapons treaty to reduce nuclear warheads and stockpiles of the former Cold War adversaries have already begun. In addition, the president refused to request funds in the FY10 budget to develop new nuclear weapons such as the Reliable Replacement Warhead.

Rose Gottemoeller, assistant secretary of state who heads US negotiations with Russia, addressed UN delegates at the 2009 Preparatory Committee for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on behalf of the president. This address spoke to the administration’s goal laid out in Prague to strengthen the NPT in order to effectively deal with the spread of nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear terrorism.

A congressionally mandated Commission on the Strategic Posture of the US testified on Capitol Hill on May 7, updating the Senate Armed Services Committee on the standing of the US as a nuclear power and stressing the importance of CTBT ratification for a successful NPT Review Conference in 2010. Vice President Biden will head up efforts to rally support for CTBT ratification in the Senate.

Even Obama recognized that a world without nuclear weapons may not come in his lifetime or his daughters’. Serious hurdles remain, including discouraging moves by North Korea to resurrect its nuclear facilities and longstanding stalling with Iran on their nuclear program. Still, the individual steps required for disarmament are widely recognized as positive safety measures regardless of whether a world free of nuclear weapons is ever realized.

—Veronica Tessler