U.S. seeks support for its nuclear strategy (2)

Following that, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Prague that aims to reduce each side's deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550.

This week's Nuclear Security Summit is regarded as a third step to strengthen Obama's hand before he heads to the United Nations next month for the review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the centerpiece of international efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

A U.S. nuclear policy report says that bolstering the global nonproliferation regime is the best way to contain the threat of proliferation posed by some potential nuclear states, such as Iran.

"The imperative before the Obama administration is to use all available tools to prevent the use and further acquisition of nuclear weapons," says the report published by the Council of Foreign Relations.

It suggests that Washington should work cooperatively to ensure that every state with nuclear weapons or weapons-usable materials implements best nuclear security practices - even those countries that remain outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty like India and Pakistan.

"The United States cannot form a more effective nuclear security system alone. It must work cooperatively with global partners," it says.

All states share the responsibility to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again, to prevent the acquisition of additional nuclear weapons by other states, and to redouble efforts to secure and reduce existing nuclear weapons and weapons-usable materials, according to the report.

Sharon Squassoni, a senior fellow and director of the Proliferation Prevention Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, said a "fundamental challenge" for nuclear security and nuclear nonproliferation is getting other countries to collaborate to make it harder for terrorists and would-be nuclear-weapon states to achieve their goals.


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