ACA Announces "2007 Arms Control Person of the Year"

The Arms Control Association just announced that Reps. Peter Visclosky and David Hobson were voted "Arms Control Person of the Year" for 2007.

U.S. Congressmen Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), chair of the House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Committee, and David Hobson (R-Ohio), ranking Republican on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, were key actors in eliminating funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead - the new generation of nuclear weapons proposed by the Bush administration - in the 2008 budget.

ACA announced that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Christopher Hill, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, tied for second place. Hill succeeded in October helping negotiate a nuclear deal with North Korea at the six party talks that, though currently facing obstacles, has resulted in concrete steps to ending North Korea's nuclear program.

Store led a Norwegian initiative to negotiate a treaty banning cluster munitions. These weapons fragment to produce up to 600 submunitions and are estimated to have killed tens of thousands of noncombatants.

More than 620 individuals cast votes over the period for the nine nominees. For the list of all those nominated for 2007, see our earlier post.