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AAAS Resolution:
International Security, Nuclear War, and Nuclear Weapons

Whereas reducing tensions between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. and resolving international disputes short of armed conflict or threat of nuclear war deserve the highest continued attention at all levels of our society, and

Whereas the continuation of the nuclear arms race will not increase the security of either superpower, and the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union are more than enough for deterrence, and

Whereas thirty years of vigorous research and development have produced no assured prospect of effective defense against nuclear attack, and

Whereas (a) there has been no progress for several years toward achieving limitations and reductions in strategic arms, either through ratification of SALT II or the negotiation of a replacement for it, (b) negotiations intended to achieve a comprehensive nuclear test ban have been indefinitely adjourned, and (c) negotiations intended to prevent or inhibit the spread of warfare to outer space have been suspended,

Be it therefore resolved that the American Association for the Advancement of Science urges the President and the Congress of the United States and the Government of the Soviet Union:

1. To intensify substantially, without preconditions and with a sense of urgency, efforts to achieve and equitable and verifiable agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union to halt the testing, production, and further deployment of nuclear weapons that threaten one another's nuclear deterrent forces, and also to reduce significantly the number of all nuclear weapons and delivery systems.
2. To resume negotiations to prevent the spread of weapons and warfare to outer space.
3. To avoid initiatives in ballistic missile defense (BMD) that are inconsistent with the existing SALT I--Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems Treaty.
4. To increase efforts toward greater mutual security through creation of a better climate or international understanding rather than through continuing competition in advanced nuclear weaponry.

[Adopted by the AAAS Council, May 30, 1983.]