Russia, U.S. Announce Nuclear Counterterrorism Effort

U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday unveiled a program to prevent terrorists from acquiring materials that could be used in a nuclear or radiological weapon, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 14).

“It reaffirms the shared desire of Russia and the United States to counter this dangerous threat and opens new horizons for our joint efforts,” Putin said at a meeting of the Group of Eight world economic powers.

The Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism seeks greater accounting, control and security by nations of nuclear and radiological materials (Tom Raum, Associated Press/Houston Chronicle, July 15).

The program calls for cooperation in development of equipment for deterring nuclear terrorism, conducting law enforcement operations and strengthening national legal frameworks to ensure prosecution of terrorists, according to a G-8 press statement (Group of Eight release, July 17).

“Nation states face the threat of terrorism, and we want to work together to deal with this threat,” Bush said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been invited to act as a program observer, according to AP.

“We do know that al-Qaeda but also other terrorists groups have expressed the intent to acquire nuclear materials or other weapons of mass destruction capabilities, and we have no doubt that they would be willing to use these weapons, really as weapons of choice, to kill as many civilians, innocent civilians, as they can,” said Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph.

“If I were a terrorist, I would think that my task would be much more difficult in terms of acquiring and using a nuclear weapon or a dirty (radioactive) bomb,” he said (Raum, Associated Press, July 15).

Moscow and Washington also encouraged countries to implement two U.N. Security Council resolutions — 1540 and 1373 — which respectively call on member nations to prevent WMD proliferation and encourage information-sharing among countries to prevent nuclear terrorism (U.S. State Department release, July 15).

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer announced that Canberra would participate in the antiterrorism program (Australian Foreign Affairs and Trade Department release, July 15).

Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn hailed the initiative as a “significant breakthrough in global efforts to keep nuclear weapons and materials out of terrorist hands.”

Nunn praised Bush and Putin for their “strong commitment to preventing nuclear terrorism — the greatest threat we face” (Nuclear Threat Initiative release, July 15).

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The Nuclear Threat Initiative is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.]

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