Obama to Promote Nuclear-Free World in Berlin Speech

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U.S. President Barack Obama is set to lay out his vision for advancing toward a world free of nuclear weapons during a speech Wednesday at the historic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

A senior administration official says Mr. Obama will propose the United States and Russia cut their number of strategic nuclear warheads by up to one third below the level agreed to in a 2009 treaty.

That pact, called the New START agreement, calls for the two countries to reduce their arsenal to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads by 2018.

The White House says Mr. Obama will pledge Wednesday to continue efforts to stop the spread of nuclear-armed countries, with "unprecedented pressure" on Iran and North Korea.

The president will also use his speech to reiterate a call for a new treaty to halt production of fissile material used in nuclear bombs, and to promote efforts to get the U.S. Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

The test ban treaty bars all nuclear explosions on Earth, and has been ratified by 159 nations, including Russia, since its inception in 1996.  China, India and Pakistan are among those that have not formally approved the treaty.

The White House says Mr. Obama will reaffirm that the United States will have a "safe, secure and effective" nuclear arsenal to guarantee its defense, and that of its allies, as long as nuclear weapons exist.

His nuclear policy also directs the Department of Defense to strengthen its conventional weapons capability and "reduce the role of nuclear weapons in deterring non-nuclear attacks."

The focus on curbing nuclear weapons is part of what the White House is calling a broader speech urging Europeans and Americans to join in fighting modern-day challenges.

The White House says the Cold War is over, but that today's problems need the same kind of citizen activism, including global warming, nuclear proliferation and terrorism.

Mr. Obama also plans to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks on Syria, Afghanistan and U.S. telephone and Internet surveillance.

The Brandenburg Gate was the site of two notable addresses by former U.S. leaders.  In 1963, president John F. Kennedy declared himself a citizen of a divided Berlin in his speech, and in 1987, president Ronald Reagan demanded that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall.

This is Mr. Obama's first visit to Germany as president. He came to Berlin in 2008 as a presidential candidate, but was denied permission to make a speech at the Brandenburg Gate.