September 10, 1996

The nuclear danger has just been dramatically reduced. Today the nations of the world validated nearly three years of intensive negotiations in Geneva by overwhelmingly supporting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in New York. The world community has declared that nuclear testing by anyone, anywhere, any time is unacceptable.

We have moved the world further from the days when schoolchildren drank milk laced with nuclear fallout and closer to a day when nuclear weapons themselves are a memory.

This is the fruition of a 40-year effort, revived in 1993 when President Clinton put the United States squarely behind the test ban, and propelled forward last year when he committed us to a "true zero" yield treaty.

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is an indispensable step to fulfulling our pledge to renounce the nuclear arms race and deny nuclear weapons to rogue states and terrorist groups. My congratulations to all who helped achieve this hardest-fought, longest-sought goal of arms control. You have earned an honored place in history, and served a waiting, grateful world.

John D. Holum

Director

U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency