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United States Appears Unable to Destroy Chemical Arsenal by Chemical Weapons Convention Deadline
The United States appears unlikely to be able to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile by 2012, as required by the Chemical Weapons Convention, USA Today reported today (see GSN, Nov. 2). Over the past 12 months, the military has only eliminated about 6 percent of the 31,000-ton U.S. chemical weapons stockpile. Just less than a third of the total stockpile has been eliminated since the effort began in 1990, according to USA Today. Several federal audits have determined that it is unlikely that the United States will meet its 2012 deadline, USA Today reported. An assessment included in a 2004 budget document gave U.S. chemical weapons disposal efforts a score of 17 percent out of 100 percent in meeting the deadline. Contributing to the delays are technical and design problems at the sites intended to destroy the weapons, USA Today reported. Two facilities in Indiana and Arkansas are still not in operation despite being set to open last summer. In addition, design work has been delayed for planned facilities in Colorado and Kentucky. Delays in U.S. weapons disposal increase the risk for accidents or attacks by terrorists, and undermine efforts to press Russia to destroy its chemical munitions, local officials and activists say. The Army’s manager for the disposal effort, Michael Parker, said that the program has been made more efficient, which could help it meet the treaty deadline. “I still think we have a reasonable shot ... at 2012,” Parker said (Peter Eisler, USA Today, Nov. 3).
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