Statement by the Euro-Atlantic Security Leadership Group: Support for Dialogue Among Governments to Reduce Nuclear Risks

For
the past three years, Des Browne, Wolfgang Ischinger, Igor Ivanov, Sam Nunn,
and their respective organizations—the European Leadership Network (ELN),
the Munich Security Conference (MSC), the Russian International Affairs Council
(RIAC), and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)—have been working with former
and current officials and experts from a group of Euro-Atlantic states and the
European Union to test ideas and develop proposals for improving security
in areas of existential common interest.  The Euro-Atlantic Security
Leadership Group (EASLG) operates as an independent and informal
initiative, with participants who reflect the diversity of the
Euro-Atlantic region from the United States, Canada, Russia, and fifteen
European countries.

Reducing and eliminating nuclear risks is an existential
common interest for all nations. 

We have crossed over to a new nuclear era, where a fateful
error triggered by an accident, miscalculation, or blunder is the most likely
catalyst to a nuclear catastrophe.  In
the Euro-Atlantic region today, these risks are compounded by heightened
tensions between NATO and Russia—with little communication between military and
political leaders—and the potential for deliberate cyber threats.  In the absence of initiative, we will
continue to drift down a path where nuclear weapons use becomes more
probable.  Governments have a shared
responsibility to work together to mitigate these risks. 

 First,
leaders of states with nuclear weapons in the region should reinforce the
principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. 

 This principle—articulated
at the height of the Cold War by the presidents of the United States and Russia
and embraced then by all European countries—was essential to ending the Cold
War.  Today, it would communicate that
leaders recognize their responsibility to work together to prevent nuclear
catastrophe.  Agreement on this key
principle could also be a foundation for other practical steps to reduce the
risk of nuclear use.

 Second,
nations should work to preserve and extend existing agreements and treaties
that are crucial to sustaining transparency and predictability. 

This is not just an issue
between Washington and Moscow.  The
demise of the arms control architecture will dramatically increase nuclear
risks for all Europeans and indeed the world. 
This year may be crucial.  Nations
in the Euro-Atlantic region have a shared interest in preserving the 1987
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) Treaty between the United States
and Russia, and insisting on full compliance by the parties to that
agreement.  Similarly, all nations in the
Euro-Atlantic region have a stake in the full implementation of the U.S.-Russia
2010 New START Treaty, and the mutual extension of that Treaty through
2026. 

 Third,
all nations should support full implementation of and strict compliance with
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. 

The JCPOA is a crucial
foundation for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle
East.  We should be building on its
success, not contemplating its termination. 
Actions by any nation that may precipitate the demise or violate the
terms of the JCPOA will increase nuclear dangers in the region and damage our
ability to address nuclear dangers around the world.

### 

Signatories to the Joint Statement by the Euro-Atlantic
Security Leadership Group

Support for Dialogue Among Governments to Reduce Nuclear
Risks

Co-Conveners

Des
Browne

Vice Chair, Nuclear Threat Initiative; Chair of the Board of
Trustees and Directors of the European Leadership Network; and former Secretary
of State for Defence, United Kingdom

Ambassador
(Botschafter) Professor Wolfgang Ischinger

Chairman (Vorsitzender),
Munich Security Conference Foundation, Germany

Igor
Ivanov

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russia

Sam
Nunn

Co-Chair, Nuclear Threat
Initiative; and former U.S. Senator, United States

Participants

Ambassador
Brooke Anderson

Former Chief of Staff, National Security Council, United
States

Steve
Andreasen

National Security Consultant, Nuclear Threat Initiative; and
former Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control, National Security Council,
United States

Joel
Bell

Chairman, Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, Canada

Robert
Berls

Senior Advisor for Russia and Eurasia, Nuclear Threat
Initiative; and former Special Assistant for Russia/NIS Programs to the
Secretary of Energy, United States

William J. Burns

President, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, United States

Ambassador Richard Burt

Chairman Global Zero USA,
United States

E.
Buzhinskiy

Chairman of PIR Center Executive Board; Vice-President of
RIAC; and Lt-General (Ret), Russia

General
(Ret) Vincenzo Camporini

Vice President Istituto Affari Internazionali, Italy

Hikmet Çetin

Former Foreign Minister,
Turkey

James
F. Collins

(Amb. Retired) Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program,
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, United States

Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola

Former Chief of Defence; former Chairman of NATO’s Military
Committee; and former Minister of Defence,
Italy

Ambassador
Rolf Ekéus

Diplomat and Chairman Emeritus of the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute, Sweden

Sir
Christopher Harper

KBE, United Kingdom

James
L. Jones

General (Ret), USMC; President, Jones Group International,
United States

Roderich Kiesewetter

Member of Bundestag, Germany

Bert
Koenders

Former Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands

Andrey Kortunov

Director
General of the Russian International Affairs Council, Russia

Łukasz
Kulesa

Research Director and Head of the Warsaw Office, European
Leadership Network, Poland

O.
Faruk Loğoğlu

Former Ambassador to the United States and Undersecretary of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Turkey

Hon.
Andrea Manciulli

Head of Italy’s Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly, Italy

Ernest
J. Moniz

Co-Chair and CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative; and former U.S.
Secretary of Energy, United States

Ferdinando Nelli Feroci

President, Istituto Affari
Internazionali, Italy

Professor
Roland Paris

University Research Chair in International Security and
Governance, University of Ottawa, Canada

Paul
Quilès

Former Defence Minister; and Chairman of IDN (Initiatives for Nuclear Disarmament), France

Bruno
Racine

Chairman, Fondation pour la recherche stratégique, France

Joan Rohlfing

President and Chief Operating
Officer, Nuclear Threat Initiative, United States

General
Igor Petrovich Smeshko

Former Head of the Security Service (SBU) (2003-2005),
Ukraine

Stefano
Stefanini

Former Italian Permanent Representative to NATO; ELN
Executive Board; Atlantic Council Nonresident Senior Fellow; and Project
Associates Brussels Director, Italy

Adam
Thomson

Director, European Leadership Network, United Kingdom

Nathalie
Tocci

Director Istituto Affari Internazionali; and Special Advisor
HRVP Federica Mogherini, Italy

General
(Ret) Dr. Erich Vad

Lecturer at the Universities of Munich and Salzburg,
Germany

William
Wallace

Rt Hon Lord Wallace of Saltaire, United Kingdom

Isabelle Williams

Senior Advisory Global Nuclear Policy Program, Nuclear
Threat Initiative, United Kingdom 

Marcin
Zaborowski

Former Executive Director, Polish Institute of International
Affairs (2010-2015), Poland