On January 4, 2007, Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, William Perry and Sam Nunn, proposed in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, that the U.S. should provide leadership to reverse global reliance on nuclear weapons as a necessary contribution to preventing their proliferation into dangerous hands and irresponsible use, either by terrorists or nations, and ultimately putting an end to the threat of these destructive weapons in our world.

They put forth a number of steps that could be embarked upon, to lay the groundwork for a world free of the threat of nuclear weapons, which included:

-- Increase the warning time of deployed nuclear weapons to reduce the danger of accidental or unauthorized use of a nuclear weapon.

-- Substantially reduce the size of the nuclear forces in all nations that possess them.

-- Eliminate forward-deployed short-range nuclear weapons

-- Initiate bipartisan dialogue and action in the U.S. Senate to achieve ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and work to secure ratification by other leading nations.

-- Provide the highest possible security for all supplies of nuclear weapons, weapons-usable plutonium, and highly enriched uranium wherever it is located throughout the world.

-- Gain control of the uranium enrichment process, including the supply for nuclear power reactors; deal with the proliferation issues presented by spent fuel from those reactors; phase out the use of highly enriched uranium in civil commerce and research facilities.

-- Halt the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons around the world.

-- Make renewed efforts to find ways to resolve regional conflict and reduce confrontations that result in new nuclear powers and an emerging global nuclear arms race.

An international campaign, ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), is calling for a "Nuclear Weapons Convention" to ban the development, possession, use and threat of use of any kind of nuke. Last year, 127 countries voted yes to a United Nation resolution calling for the immediate commencement of negotiations for this kind of agreement. For more information and to support the campaign, visit www.icanw.org.

Other websites that may be of interest to you:

Abolition 2000 www.abolition2000.org

Nuclear Weapon Free Zones www.opanal.org/NWFZ's.htm

Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament www.gsinstitute.org/pddn/