ACCESSION NUMBER:331612
FILE ID:POL502
DATE:03/11/94
TITLE:INTERNATIONAL CONSENSUS NEEDED TO COMBAT ARMS PROLIFERATION (03/11/94)
TEXT:*94031102.POL
INTERNATIONAL CONSENSUS NEEDED TO COMBAT ARMS PROLIFERATION
(Carter urges strong controls on technology exports) (780)
By Jacquelyn S. Porth
USIA Security Affairs Writer
Washington -- The United States will depend more on voluntary regimes in the
future in the effort to reach an "international consensus" on combating the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other conventional arms
systems, says a U.S. official.
Ashton Carter, assistant secretary of defense for nuclear security and
counter-proliferation, also said March 11 that North Korea's ballistic
missile program is becoming "more ambitious" and that U.S. officials are
concerned not only about that nation's weapons programs but also its export
plans.
American allies in the region are increasingly concerned about the
ever-extending range of North Korean missiles, Carter said at a meeting
convened for specialists on non-proliferation issues.
Referring to the rapidly evolving technology related to arms production and
the ability of almost any nation to produce many kinds of weapons
1ndigenously, Carter said this puts the burden on the United States and
other nations to be more persuasive in counter-proliferation efforts and to
do more than simply deny certain kinds of technology exports. The United
States, he said, would like to control the export of "everything" to Iran
and Iraq, for example.
Explaining the Clinton administration's Counter Proliferation Initiative
(CPI), Carter said it is a "new mission" for the Defense Department which
is being integrated at all policy levels and includes contingency planning
for regional commanders-in-chief. Nuclear containment efforts are working
quite effectively, he said, but he warned that potential adversaries in
future conflicts would be expected to possess chemical and biological
capabilities.
As a result, the Pentagon is acquiring special technologies and equipment
"tailored" to counter-proliferation, Carter said. The new technologies
include special munitions to destroy or degrade hardened targets and
battlefield sensors to detect the presence of chemical and biological
weapons, he said.
Another focus of the CPI is to strengthen military intelligence
capabilities, Carter said, noting that Defense Secretary Perry and Central
Intelligence Agency Director Woolsey will announce soon the new position of
a deputy director for military support at the CIA's Counter-Proliferation
Center. In the past, he explained, too much of the Pentagon's
counter-proliferation focus had been on characterizing and cataloguing
individual nations' weapons programs. In the future, the official
suggested, the focus will be on what actions to take after certain
countries acquire weapons of mass destruction.
While the United States has been preoccupied with counter-proliferation
issues for some time, the CPI has now been extended to NATO (North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, Carter said, expressing the view that the issue is a
concern that the alliance should be focusing on also.
Commenting on export controls, Carter said there has been declining
international consensus in this area, and he stressed the importance of
creating "an effective replacement" for COCOM (the Coordinating Committee
for Multilateral Export Controls).
There is "good news" in Ukraine, he said, referring to the recent transfer
from that country of strategic nuclear arms to Russia for dismantlement.
It is "gratifying," he said, to see the removal of SS-19 and SS-24
intercontinental ballistic missile warheads which were once aimed at the
United States.
Carter noted that Defense Secretary Perry will visit one of the missile
bases in Ukraine in late March during an extended trip which also will take
him to Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. He acknowledged that there is still
concern in the Defense Department about the "chain of custody" for safe
internal controls of nuclear weapons in Russia. The discipline of Russian
nuclear custodians is still good, relatively speaking, Carter said, but he
also noted that this is the first time a nuclear power has ever undergone
"such fundamental political and economic turmoil." As a result, he said,
U.S. concerns will continue until the "bitter end" of the nuclear
dismantlement process.
Defense conversion also will be on Perry's agenda in Moscow because there
are concerns about conventional weapons proliferation as well, Carter
said. "We are trying to stimulate U.S.-Russian joint ventures," using a
small amount of U.S. financial aid, to produce non-military goods, he said.
The idea is to attract private capital and also show the Russians that the
United States is willing to help concretely in the counter-proliferation
effort.
Carter also said an expedited effort is underway in distributing funds to
1ssist Russian nuclear scientists convert to new careers in conjunction
with the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) in Moscow. The
ISTC board of directors will meet for the first time next week, he said,
and disburse its first 75 grants.
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