President Obama's speech in Prague in April 2009 indicated a paradigm change in the U.S. nuclear politics that has been strengthened by the Nuclear Posture Review in April 2010 as well as the signing of the NSTART treaty and other measures within the U.S. nuclear disarmament policy. At the same time the challenges deriving from domestic caveats that hamper determined disarmament politics have become visible. Whilst the danger of a possible nuclear terrorism strenghtens the argument for nuclear disarmament, the loss of security provided by nuclear terrence is still seen as a risk factor.
In HSFK Report 4/2010, "Auf dem Web zu Global Zero? Die neue amerikanische Nuklearpolitik zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit" ("On the Way to Global Zero? The New American Nuclear Policy between Ambition and Reality") the authors Marco Fey, Giorgio Franceschini, Harald Müller and Hans-Joachim Schmidt compare the progress and impediments on the way to a possible American nuclear disarmament and present a critical examination of the proclaimed change of course by the U.S. government.
The report can be orderded directly at PRIF and is also availabe als free PDF download.