Friends,
The Global Security Institute is pleased to sponsor Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, and to share an important online event occurring on April 29. We encourage you to join the event. 

In light of our policy goal to eliminate nuclear weapons, there are key talking points in the current the discussion of the No-First-Use Act recently introduced to Congress. Is a No-First-Use policy a step in the direction of elimination? Does it imply that a Second Use would be legitimate? Does it make any use less likely or more likely? Does it advance our goal or make legitimate the continued reliance on nuclear weapons in the pursuit of security?

We believe this event will explore serious inquiry to answer these important questions. 

Warm regards,
Jonathan Granoff
President, Global Security Institute

On Thursday 15 April 2021, US Representative Adam Smith (Chairman of the US House Armed Services Committee) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (Member of the US Senate Armed Services Committee), introduced the No First Use Act to establish in United States policy and law that the US would not use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare first.

This is one of a number of initiatives to advance No-First-Use (NFU) policies in the US, other nuclear armed states and in US allies (NATO countries, Japan. South Korea and Australia). The adoption of such policies could help to lower the risk of nuclear war and pave the way for nuclear disarmament.

We invite you to join a webinar on Thursday April 29, Nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament: Is it time for no-first-use policies in the USA and globally? The webinar brings together experts from the USA, other nuclear-armed states and key allied countries to discuss the proposals and possibilities for the adoption of NFU policies. See below for details.
Note: If in registering for the Americas/Europe/Africa session you receive a page that states that the session is on April 28, this is a technical glitch that is being corrected. When you register for the event you will receive an email confirmation that the date of the event is April 29.
USA No-First-Use Act

“Threatening to use nuclear weapons first makes America less safe because it increases the chances of a miscalculation or an accident. There are no winners in a nuclear war, and the US should never start one -- I am glad to reintroduce this bill with Chairman Smith to commit the US to not using nuclear weapons first.”
Senator Warren, sponsor of the No-First-Use Act in the US Senate


  • For background on NFU please see:

No First Use (NFU) Webinar April 29
Session 1: Asia/Pacific

7:30am CET,
Islamabad 10:30am,
Delhi 11am,
Beijing 1:30pm,
Seoul/Tokyo 2:30pm,
Sydney 3:30pm, 
Wellington 5:30pm, 

Residents in US time zones registering for the Asia/Pacific seminar, please note that the event will occur in the evening of April 28th in your time zone:

Hawaii 7:30 pm, April 28,
San Francisco 10:30pm, April 28. 

Speakers:
  • Hon Gareth Evans (Australia), Chair of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament; Former Australian Foreign Minister

  • Professor Manpreet Sethi (India) who is Distinguished Fellow and head of the Nuclear Security Project at the Centre for Air Power Studies

  • Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy (Pakistan). Former Chair and professor, Department of physics at Quaid e Azam University. Member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters

  • Dr Tong Zhao (China). Senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace located at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing

  • Vanda Proskova (Czech Republic), Vice-Chair of PragueVision institute for Sustainable Security.
Session 2: Americas/Europe/Africa

San Francisco (PDT) 8:15am,
Washington DC (EDT) 11:15am,
London 4:15pm,
Paris/Berlin: 5:15pm,
Moscow 6:15pm.

Speakers:

  • Mr Thomas Countryman (USA), Chair of the Arms Control Association Board of Directors, Former United States Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-proliferation

  • Mr Andrey Baklitskiy (Russia), Senior Research Fellow, Center for Advanced American Studies, Institute of International Studies, MGIMO University of the Russian Foreign Ministry

  • General Bernard Norlain (France), Former Air Defence Commander and Air Combat Commander of the French Air Force. Vice-President of Initiatives pour le Désarmement Nucléaire

  • Lord Hannay of Chiswick (UK), Chair, All Party Group on Global Security and Non-proliferation

  • Commander Robert Forsyth (UK), Former Nuclear Submarine Commanding Officer, Royal Navy

  • Ms Uta Zapf (Germany/NATO/OSCE), Former Chair of the Bundestag Subcommittee on Disarmament and Arms Control

  • Ms Yasmeen Silva (USA), Partnerships Manager, Beyond the Bomb.

Please note: If in registering for the Americas/Europe/Africa session you reach a page that states that the session is on April 28, this is a technical glitch that is being corrected. When you register for the event your will receive an email confirmation that the date of the event is April 29.

Event sponsors

The webinar is hosted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and cosponsored by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, Peace Depot Japan, People for Nuclear Disarmament, PragueVision Institute for Sustainable Security and the World Future Council.


Online conference on a US No-First Use policy, May 15

You might also be interested in a May 15 conference on Prohibiting the First Use of Nuclear Weapons which will focus on moving the USA to adopt a NFU policy. The conference is being organized by Massachusetts Peace Action. 
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