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Bush Administration Aims for More CTBT Funding By David Ruppe WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is seeking to provide increased U.S. support for the international effort to build a global nuclear test monitoring system, after a sharp drop requested last year (see GSN, Nov. 2, 2005). The State Department in its fiscal 2007 budget request this month asked Congress to provide $19.8 million for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization’s preparatory commission in Vienna, up from $14.35 million sought and received for the current fiscal 2006. The administration sought and received $19 million for fiscal 2005. Administration officials last year said the requested fiscal 2006 reduction was a temporary result of budget difficulties. The proposed amount for fiscal 2007 is still short of the assessed U.S. commitment of 22 percent of the commission’s roughly $104 million annual budget, which is about $23 million. Still, “It’s a lot better than where we were,” said David Culp, legislative representative for the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington. Though not preferred, underpayment of contributions by the treaty’s membership is not unusual, CTBTO spokeswoman Daniela Rozgonova said by e-mail earlier this month. “On average, the CTBTO Preparatory Commission receives 90 percent of the assessed contributions in any given year,” she wrote. “Every shortfall in contributions has an impact on program implementation. The higher the collection rate the better the organization can fulfill its mandate,” she wrote. Most of the contributions pay for ongoing construction of nuclear test detection stations around the world. “At the end of 2005, 219 [International Monitoring System] stations were installed and certified or substantially met specifications. We expect that in 2006 another 37 stations will be completed so that by year’s end approximately 246 stations will be either installed or certified,” Rozgonova wrote. The commission aims to build 337 International Monitoring System facilities, for operation if the treaty banning nuclear weapons testing comes into effect. Ratification by another 11 countries from a special list of 44 contained in a treaty annex is required for entry into force. The United States is on the list and has not ratified the treaty, reflecting opposition in the Republican-led Senate and the administration’s unwillingness to rule out resuming U.S. testing at some point. The treaty has 176 member states, 129 of which have ratified the pact, with new ratifications occurring regularly.
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