On November 4th voters will choose the next President of the United States. We stand at an historic intersection: The U.S. could continue on its unilateral, interventionist path, or turn the corner and start working cooperatively with other countries to solve our issues together. Will we proceed in the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons, or change course to promote nonproliferation and disarmament worldwide?

What will the future of U.S. nuclear weapons policy look like? At this moment, the U.S. still has nuclear armed missiles deployed on high alert. The Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) recently proposed to replace all the nuclear warheads in our arsenal, a project called “Complex Transformation”. In addition, the U.S. Air Force has consistently pressured for the weaponization of outer space, a move opposed by virtually every country in the world, and which are willing to sign on to a treaty on the deweaponization of outer space.

In 2007, Congress mandated a Nuclear Posture Review--a top-to-bottom assessment of the role and size of the U.S. nuclear weapons-- by the end of 2009. It will fall to the next President and Congress to set the future of U.S. weapons policy, both nuclear and conventional, on the ground and in space.

The U.S. could decide to shift policy and truly implement the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and re-ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions for military and civilian purposes. The U.S. signed onto the treaty in 1996 but the Senate rejected it in 1999. The U.S. could take the lead in advancing an updated Outer Space Treaty that bans all weapons in space.

If we expect nations like Iran or North Korea to halt development of nuclear capabilities, or for India and Pakistan to stop threatening the use of nuclear weapons against each other, or if we wish to avoid a confrontation with China and other nations over the control of outer space, the U.S. must take an active part in international efforts towards nonproliferation and cooperation.

Will we continue to be the hegemonic police of the world, “going it alone” wherever we see trouble? Or will there be a new direction in the U.S. toward world cooperation? What might we gain by shifting the emphasis of U.S. foreign policy from military intervention to economic aid? What diplomatic steps will the next Administration need to take to steer us away from nuclear proliferation and space weaponization and towards true security?