New Report Outlines Agenda for Nonproliferation
Sep 10, 2001
Press Release — 10 September 2001 Contact: Steve LaMontagne - 202.543.4100 ×100
The U.S. must take a variety of pro-active steps to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them, recommends a new report released today by Council for a Livable World Center for Arms Control. Such steps include ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, expanding and better coordinating U.S.-Russian cooperative security efforts, and making deep reductions in nuclear forces.
The report, Nonproliferation Status Report 2001, provides a comprehensive overview of U.S. and international nonproliferation efforts and surveys major developments in global proliferation hot spots such as South Asia.
The report also provides summaries and budget information on all U.S. threat reduction programs conducted in Russia and the former Soviet republics. Despite campaign promises by President Bush that he would ask Congress to “increase substantially” U.S. assistance for these programs, the administration’s fiscal 2002 budget request cut $100 million from Department of Energy nonproliferation programs and $40 million from the Defense Department’s Cooperative Threat Reduction (Nunn-Lugar) program. The administration may also be poised to indefinitely delay plans to dispose of 100 tons of U.S. and Russian plutonium that could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Moreover, according to the report, the administration’s costly and controversial national missile defense program could threaten nonproliferation efforts on several fronts.
“Missile defenses may also derail much needed nuclear weapons reductions and jeopardize nuclear security cooperation in Russia while at the same time fueling a Chinese nuclear buildup that could spill over into a regional arms race involving India and Pakistan.” the report states.
In South Asia, the report recommends that nonproliferation should be treated as a key part of the U.S. policy agenda. Efforts to engage India and Pakistan should be tied to promises not to deploy nuclear forces or conduct nuclear tests, a commitment to peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute, and stronger export controls on sensitive materials and technologies.
Nonproliferation Status Report 2001 outlines a series of positive steps towards stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. It is a useful and important resource for all media and policy makers with a serious interest in nonproliferation.
The report may be ordered from the Center for Arms Control at (202) 546-0795 or here.
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