Arms Control Association (ACA)

ACA supports a de facto ban on nuclear tests and believes the U.S. Senate should consider ratifying the United Nations-backed Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. ³ The organization supports the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran Deal, and claimed that the Trump administration’s decision to leave the JCPOA made advances in Iran’s nuclear program possible. ⁴

ACA has received 21 grants worth $7,052,000 from the left-of-center John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation between 1984 and 2022 to support its general operations and other projects. ⁵ The organization has also received $4,625,000 in grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York from 2009 to 2023. ⁶

History and Leadership

The Arms Control Association (ACA) was originally founded as a project of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1971. ACA was founded between the first and second phases of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) discussions between then-President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev that began in 1969 and concluded on May 26, 1972, with the signing of the first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Agreement (SALT I) in Moscow. ⁷

In 1972, ACA became an independent nonprofit organization and released its first newsletter. ^{1 8} In 1974, ACA launched its flagship publication, the monthly journal Arms Control Today. ¹

Daryl G. Kimball is the executive director of ACA. ⁹ He has also been the publisher of and a contributor for Arms Control Today since September 2001. ^{10 11} From 1997 to 2011, Kimball was the executive director of the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers, a group of 17 nonprofits that worked to reduce threats posed by nuclear weapons. Kimball also worked to win Congressional approval for nuclear test moratorium legislation in 1992, a nuclear test moratorium in 1993, and a treaty banning zero-yield nuclear testing. ¹²

Activities and Funding

Arms Control Association (ACA) is a left-of-center foreign policy membership organization that advocates for arms control legislation and treaty ratification. Individuals who donate $75 or more to the organization are given membership status. ¹³ The organization frequently hosts members-only events and briefings ¹⁴ and periodically publishes policy white papers on arms control issues. ¹⁵

ACA organizes arms control-related briefings for American and international foreign policy officials and lawmakers, publishes newspaper articles, and briefs journalists on the topic. ACA has released Congressional briefings on arms control-related matters and publishes the journal Arms Control Today to support its policy positions. ² It also publishes information sheets regarding nuclear arms treaties, country-specific nuclear weapons capabilities, and other weapons such as cluster munitions. ^{16 17}

ACA operates a 21-member U.S.-German-Russian expert group on nuclear weapons issues  ¹⁸ and runs the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition with Global Affairs Canada Threat Reduction Program and Germany’s Federal Foreign Office. ¹⁹

Arms Control Association hosts the left-of-center network Forum on the Arms Trade, which convenes civil society professionals who support arms control to work on human rights, development, arms control, humanitarian disarmament, cybersecurity, environmental, anti-corruption, and other issues. ²⁰

From 2013 until 2021, with the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, ACA organized the Bipartisan Nuclear Policy Dialogue Project with the Lugar Center. ^{21 22} In 2011, the left-of-center John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation recognized ACA as an organization that “effectively addresses pressing national and international challenges” with an impact that is disproportionate to its small size. ^{23 2}

Foreign Policy Positions

Since its founding, Arms Control Association has taken positions on treaty negotiations, nuclear policy, and arms control-related policy. ACA has run campaigns to strengthen the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). ¹ ACA supports a de facto ban on nuclear tests and argues that the U.S. Senate should consider ratifying the United Nations-backed Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. ³ The organization also supports the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction ²⁴ and the Deep Cuts Project, which campaigns for nuclear-weapons states to reduce their arsenals. ^{25 26}

Biden administration National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke at ACA’s annual forum in 2023. ²⁷ In 2022, Biden administration Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Mallory Stewart spoke at ACA’s 50th anniversary dinner. ²⁸ ACA’s 2022 annual meeting featured other representatives from the Biden administration Biden administration Department of State; Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Nuclear Threat Initiative; Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation; Ploughshares Fund; Secure World Foundation; the Nuclear Threat Initiative; U.S. Representative Don Beyer (D-VA); and U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR). ²⁹

In October 2020, Arms Control Association attacked the Trump administration for what ACA claimed was dithering and delaying on nuclear arms control matters. The group opposed Trump administration policies to update the New START nuclear weapons treaty ³⁰ and claimed that the Trump administration decision to leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran Deal, has made advances in Iran’s nuclear program possible. ⁴

The Arms Control Association opposed the George W. Bush administration’s decision to exempt India from U.S. and global trade restrictions as a part of the 2008 India-United States Civil Nuclear Agreement. ¹

In 2007, ACA developed a legislative memorandum on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament that eventually became the blueprint for a 2009 speech by President Barack Obama that outlined his approach to nuclear risk reduction. ACA also briefed the Obama Presidential Transition Team regarding test ban policies. ³¹

Funding

Arms Control Association receives funding from individual contributions and grants. ³² In 2020, ACA reported revenue of $1,672,403 and expenses of $1,456,985. In 2019, the organization reported revenue of $1,904,105 and expenses of $1,671,693. ³³

ACA has received 21 grants totaling $7,052,000 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation between 1984 and 2022. These grants have supported ACA’s general operations, ACA’s policy positioning, and other projects. ⁵ ACA has received grants of $4,625,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York from 2009 to 2023. ⁶ In 2023 alone, ACA received $825,000 of grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. ⁶

In 2021, ACA received $400,000 from the left-of-center John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ³⁴ and $75,000 from the left-of-center Prospect Hill Foundation. ³⁵

ACA received $215,000 from the Ploughshares Fund in 2019, ³⁶ $45,000 from the left-of-center Tides Foundation in 2012, ³⁷ $200,000 from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in 2012, ³⁸ $300,000 from the Ford Foundation in 2009, and $250,000 from the Ford Foundation in 2007. ³⁹