100+ Global Leaders Call on Heads of State to Accelerate Efforts to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism

A Call to Action on Nuclear Terrorism signed by more than 140 global political, diplomatic, business and military leaders, as well as top experts in nuclear security, and released today, cites the progress resulting from four Nuclear Security Summits but warns: “The job is not done. The Summits are ending as the terrorist threat is growing.” 

At the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, to be held in Washington, DC, on March 31-April 1, heads of state from more than 50 countries and the leaders of four international organizations will negotiate and finalize new commitments to improve security around the materials that can be used to build nuclear and radiological bombs. 

Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, inspired the call to action, as well as providing the generous philanthropic support that enabled it. The initiative was launched with former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, former U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and former Senator Sam Nunn, Co-Chairman and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). They are joined by Nobel Laureates, military leaders, former presidents and prime ministers, leaders in business and finance and more.  Members of the public can join them by visiting www.nti.org/NoGreaterThreat. 

“We call on leaders to accelerate the effort to prevent catastrophic nuclear terrorism and continue their work beyond this last Summit to create global standards, accountability and best practices for securing all nuclear materials,” the statement reads.  “The United States and Russia, with the vast majority of the world’s nuclear materials and weapons, have a special responsibility to lead. The relationship between the U.S. and Russia has dangerously deteriorated, raising the risk of conflict instead of cooperation. We call upon the two countries to work to prevent ISIS and other violent groups from getting these materials and to avoid another costly arms race.”

Partial List of Leaders Who Signed Statement

• Kofi A. Annan, former Secretary-General, UN 
• Amb. Hamad Alkaabi, Perm. Rep. of the UAE to the IAEA  
• Alexey Arbatov, former member of the Russian Parliament
• Oscar Arias, former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace laureate
• Michael R. Bloomberg, 108th Mayor of the City of New York
• Edmund G. Brown Jr., Governor of California 
• Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway
• Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor 
• Warren E. Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
• Ambassador William J. Burns, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
• Gen J. E. Cartwright (Ret)
• Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States
• Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman & CEO American Express Company
• Daniel W. Christman, LTG (Ret), USA, former Assistant to the Chairman, JCS
• Liru Cui, Member Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Committee, Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)
• Massimo D’Alema, FEPS President. former Prime Minister of Italy
• Pete V. Domenici, United States Senator (Ret.)
• Michael Douglas, Actor, Producer
• Sidney D. Drell, 2013 recipient, National Medal of Science
• Vladimir Dvorkin, Major-General (ret.), RAS and Carnegie Moscow Center
• Susan Eisenhower, The Eisenhower Group, Inc.
• Julian Enoizi, Pool Reinsurance Company Ltd
• Gideon Frank, former Director General of Israel Atomic Energy Commission
• Jamie S. Gorelick, former Deputy Attorney General; former General Counsel of the Department of Defense
• Eugene E. Habiger, General USAF (Ret), former Commander in Chief, US Strategic Command 
• Lee H. Hamilton
• David Harding, Founder & CEO, Winton Capital Management Ltd
• HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, Chairman of the Arab Thought Forum
• Ambassador Carla A. Hills, Hills & Company
• Siegfried S. Hecker, Director Emeritus, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., former Governor of Utah 
• Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman, Munich Security Conference 
• Igor Ivanov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation (1998-2004)
• James L. Jones, General (Ret)
• Tom Kean, former Governor of New Jersey
• Riaz Muhammad Khan, former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan
• Jeong H. Kim, Chairman, Kiswe Mobile; President Emeritus, Bell Labs
• Henry A. Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State
• Pierre Lellouche, former French Minister, Deputy of Paris, “Les Républicains” Spokesman for Foreign Affairs
• Ruud Lubbers, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, 1982-1994
• Richard G. Lugar, United States Senator (Ret.)
• Evgeny P. Maslin, Col-Gen (Ret)
• Jeffrey D. McCausland, PhD, Colonel, US Army (Ret)
• General (Retd) Sir John McColl, Former NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe
• Michael McFaul, Stanford University
• Robert C. McFarlane, former National Security Advisor
• Admiral Mike Mullen, USN (Ret), former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
• Nathan Myhrvold, Founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures
• Richard D. Parsons, Senior Adviser, Providence Equity Partners
• William J. Perry, former U.S. Secretary of Defense 
• Michael A. Peterson, President & CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation 
• Peter G. Peterson, Founder and Chairman, Peter G. Peterson Foundation
• David H. Petraeus, Member, KKR & Chairman, KKR Global Institute
• Thomas R Pickering, former Under Secretary of State and Ambassador
• Malcolm Rifkind, former Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom
• Lord George Robertson, former NATO Sec. Gen. and UK Defence Secretary
• Lieutenant General (retd) John Sanderson, former Chief of the Australian Army; former Governor of Western Australia,
• Amartya Sen, Lamont University Professor, Harvard University
• George P. Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of State
• Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder, Blackstone 
• Julia Stasch, President, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
• Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret), Dean, The Fletcher School at Tufts University, Supreme Allied Commander at NATO 2009-2013
• Han Sung-Joo, former ROK Minister of Foreign Affairs 
• Hon. Ellen Tauscher, former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security 
• General John H. Tilelli, Jr. (USA, Ret.) 
• Vyacheslav I. Trubnikov, former Ambassador, Russian Federation
• Ted Turner, Co-Chairman, Nuclear Threat Initiative
• Admiral the Rt Hon Lord West of Spithead GCB DSC PC, former First Sea Lord and Security Minister
• Right Honourable Shirley Williams, former Leader Liberal Democrats, House of Lords
• Steve Wynn
• Fujia Yang, Academician, Chinese Academy of Sciences  

The complete statement and list of endorsers is available at www.nti.org/NoGreaterThreat. Full-page advertisements featuring key signatories will appear in the print editions of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post on March 31st. 

NTI would like to acknowledge the Carnegie Corporation of New York for its generous support. 

About NTI

The Nuclear Threat Initiative works to protect our lives, livelihoods, environment, and quality of life now and for future generations from the growing risk of catastrophic attacks with weapons of mass destruction and disruption (WMDD)—nuclear, biological, radiological, chemical, and cyber. Founded in 2001 by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and philanthropist Ted Turner, NTI is guided by a prestigious, international board of directors. Sam Nunn serves as chief executive officer; Des Browne is vice chairman; and Joan Rohlfing serves as president.