“Near the end of the protracted negotiations that produced the historic Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) 40 years ago, U.S. government officials warned that countries could legally reach “nuclear pregnancy” under the Treaty and then withdraw and quickly acquire nukes, according to declassified U.S. government documents published on the Web today by the National Security Archive.

The documents detail the well-known resistance to the NPT from countries like India (“China at her back, and Pakistan lurking on the sidelines”) but also from more unusual objectors such as Australia (concerned that the Western Pacific security situation might worsen) and Italy (unhappy about the “second-class status” of non-nuclear states). The documents suggest that the current crisis in the NPT system has deep historical roots, but also that current headlines overlook the long-term achievements of the NPT regime…

On 1 July 1968, forty years ago today, the United States, the United Kingdom, the former Soviet Union, and over 50 other countries signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), one of the most significant multilateral arms control achievements of the nuclear age. Starting with the premise that nuclear war would produce terrible devastation and that the “proliferation of nuclear weapons would seriously enhance the danger of nuclear war,” the Treaty’s signatories, nuclear and non-nuclear state alike, pledged to refrain from transferring other countries weapons, technology, or materials that could create new capabilities to produce nuclear explosive devices. While permitting and encouraging peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the signatories agreed to an inspection system designed to prevent the diversion of nuclear materials for military purposes. With this agreement, the international community “established the diplomatic norm that gave nations a clear path to a non-nuclear future.” To facilitate the deal, the nuclear weapons states agreed to general language about nuclear disarmament as a long-range goal. Even though five states, the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and China continued to possess nuclear weapons, all the signatories agreed that a world without additional nuclear powers would be a safer and better one.”