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Updated November 2006
On-going CTR and nonproliferation programs fall into several major categories.
One cluster of programs provides financial and technical assistance to help
eliminate Soviet long-range nuclear missiles, bombers,
and ballistic missile submarines. Assistance is also being provided to help
secure Russia's nuclear weapons against theft. This program includes security
upgrades for: (1) storage facilities for warheads scheduled to be dismantled;
(2) railcars used to transport nuclear warheads to their dismantlement sites;
and (3) warhead dismantlement facilities. One program helped construct
a storage facility for fissile
materials extracted from the warheads; however, disputes have arisen about
what material can be stored there.
A second major U.S. program helps Russia to destroy its massive stocks of chemical
weapons. Russia is obligated to eliminate these weapons because of its status
as a party to the
Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
A third group of initiatives seeks to eliminate and secure the former Soviet
Union's massive stocks of nuclear weapons material outside of nuclear weapons.
The vast bulk of this material is now in Russia, where the United States is
helping to eliminate and secure some
500
metric tons of highly enriched uranium and 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium, the two materials
that have been used for the cores of nuclear weapons. Training for Russian customs officials
and border security guards in detecting and halting WMD
smuggling attempts, and efforts to combat the threat of radiological dispersion devices, are also included in this group of initiatives. A final group of programs seeks to provide non-defense job opportunities for
former Soviet WMD scientists and workers to reduce the likelihood
that these specialists will sell their skills to countries or organizations
of proliferation concern.
One such program is the
International Science and Technology
Center.
During its first term, the Bush administration initially sought to cut the budget for some of the CTR programs that were begun under President Clinton, but overall has supported
the concept of CTR and U.S. nonproliferation programs in Russia. The programs most affected by proposed budget
cuts were the programs funded by the Department of Energy, such as the
Nuclear
Cities Initiative, as well as some programs aimed at securing Russian
nuclear materials. However, in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11,
2001, Congress restored and in some cases increased funding for the DOE
programs. The June 2002
G-8 summit
also brought commitments of new CTR
funding with matching pledges of $10 billion each from the United States and
other western G-8 leaders to be implemented over the next 10 years. In
September 2006, the United States terminated the Nuclear Cities Initiative
that had funded the transition of Russian weapons scientists into
non-weapons industries.
For
fiscal years 2006 and 2007, the Bush administration proposed spending over
$1 billion for international cooperative threat reduction and
nonproliferation programs with Russia, other former Soviet Republics, and
other nations. Congress has authorized substantial funding increases for
Department of Energy programs, including the 2004
Global Threat Reduction Initiative. This initiative involves a
group of programs to help cleanout nuclear weapons usable materials from
vulnerable facilities around the world. Other DOE programs are working to
close Russian plutonium production reactors, and to improve the security of
nuclear materials and warheads in storage sites in Russia and other
countries.
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Further Reading:
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CRS, Amy Woolf,
"Nonproliferation and Threat Reduction
Assistance: U.S. Programs in the Former Soviet Union" |
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RANSAC, Jeffrey Read,
"Reported
Accomplishments of Selected Threat Reduction and Nonproliferation
Programs by Agency for Fiscal Year 2004" |
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RANSAC, William Hoehn,
"Final
Report of Congressional Activity Affecting U.S. Global Threat Reduction
Programs in 2005" |
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NTI, Cristina Chuen,
"Global CW Assistance" |
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NTI, Kenley Butler,
"The
Global Partnership 2004" |
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CRS, Sharon Squassoni,
"Globalizing Cooperative Threat Reduction: A Survey of Options" |
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CNS,
Global Partnership Resources |
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Strengthening the Global Partnership website |
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NTI, Matthew Bunn and Anthony Wier,
"Securing the Bomb" |
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Council on Foreign Relations, Charles
Ferguson,
"Reducing the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism: A Review of the Department
of Energy's Global Threat Reduction Initiative" |
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RANSAC, William Hoehn,
"Status Report on
Fiscal Year 2006 Congressional Appropriations for International WMD
Threat Reduction Programs and Activities" |
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