The dramatic end to the Cold War has added a new perspective to most non-proliferation issues, and added new ones. In addition to a wide selection of historical documents, this factbook includes data and discussions of a wide variety of technical and political topics. The work was prepared by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress for the United States Senate, and has an introduction by Senator John Glenn. Halting the global spread of nuclear explosive devices has been a goal of American policy for over half a century. It predates even the first detonation of such a device in 1945. There is no weapon on earth that matches the instantaneous destructive power of the Bomb, which can devastate whole cities in the blink of an eye. Nonproliferation counted then and counts all the more today as a top national security priority. - John Glenn