September 2011

Working Toward Zero — Eliminating Nuclear Weapons

Before United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stepped foot on campus in April 2011, individuals and leaders across the globe, including GW students in Foggy Bottom, joined the movement known as Global Zero, which is working for the phased, verified elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with student leaders, including Christina Walters, at GW|DC, held at GW and co-hosted by the Elliott School in April 2011.

During the summer of 2010, Christina Walters, then an Elliott School rising junior pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Asian studies with minors in Chinese and criminal justice, attended Global Zero's 2010 Summer Leadership Institute. The two-week program selected 20 college students to meet with world leaders — including former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering — to discuss critical nuclear policy issues. In addition to policy discussions, Global Zero staff engaged participants on organizational development so that they could build Global Zero chapters on their respective college campuses, which Christina did when she returned to Foggy Bottom.

"I chose to join Global Zero and eventually bring it to GW's campus because I believe that nuclear weapons no longer serve a strategic purpose, and that we could use the saved net cost to create jobs and improve our education system," said Christina.

Nine months later, with the support of Elliott School Associate Dean Douglas Shaw GW's Global Zero chapter was transformed from one student's work to a recognized campus organization with more than 60 members. In addition, GW Global Zero supported the Elliott School in co-hosting GZ|DC, a national youth organizing convention for Global Zero, in April 2011 which coordinated a small group meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — attended by Christina and two other GW students — as well as presentations for 200 conference participants by Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance and Elliott School alumna Rose Gottemoeller; Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher, Founding Dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government Graham Allison, former CIA operative Valerie Plame, and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Jack Sheehan, among many others

Christina's role with Global Zero on campus earned her an invitation to the organization's June 2011 Summit in London where "they called on the heads of nuclear powers to hold a Nuclear Weapons Summit to launch the first in history multilateral nuclear arms negotiations, and announced an international grassroots campaign to cut costs of more than $1 trillion per decade in the overall size of nuclear arsenals."

"In the summer of 2011, I joined Global Zero in London for their 2011 summit, which hosted security, faith, and other leaders from Jordan, Japan, China, Pakistan, India, South Korea, and more," said Christina. "My role as a student leader entailed attending a pre-summit conference in the run up and during the Summit. We developed ways to effectively aid current policy officials in working toward Global Zero. We also launched the Global Zero Cost Campaign, which monetizes the value of a nuke using recognizable figures."

Now in her senior year at GW, Christina currently serves as president of Global Zero's GW chapter. "This year, my hope is to raise awareness of Global Zero's Cost Campaign on- and off-campus and hold a forum on North Korea's nuclear weapons program," she said.

Looking back on her visit to London with Global Zero, Christina said that her experience was one of a kind.

"I was able to make life-long friendships with individuals from all over the world, and meet some of my policy idols. Global Zero made the experience unlike any of my other travel experiences in terms of organization, which made the entire week stress-free!"