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Success of Proliferation Security Initiative Lauded in Congress

09 June 2005

Expansion of initiative proceeding, State's Rademaker tells House panel

Washington – A leading member of Congress pointed to the success of the two-year-old Proliferation Security Initiative during a June 9 hearing to assess the status of the initiative to stop trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, associated delivery systems, and related materials to and from states and nonstate actors of proliferation concern.

Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation, praised the voluntary counterproliferation effort for being nimble and pointed to 11 successful PSI interdictions that have taken place in the past nine months.

“While details are sketchy due to intelligence security concerns,” Royce said, the number of interdictions has included a shipment of equipment and material “bound for ballistic missile programs in countries of concern, including Iran.”

Because PSI is an activity and not an organization, Royce said it has no official membership, headquarters or permanent staff.   “This brings advantages – avoiding red tape, avoiding a ‘lowest common denominator’ approach when taking action, and avoiding possible political acrimony over selecting interdiction targets,” he said.

Royce called the hearing to conduct an “early assessment” of PSI and hear testimony from Stephen Rademaker, the assistant secretary of state for arms control, who also serves as assistant secretary for nonproliferation.  Rademaker told the subcommittee that the initiative has been a big success with over 60 nations participating in one form or another.

Even though successful PSI interdictions are one measure of the initiative’s effectiveness, the assistant secretary also said it can be measured in terms of shipments of WMD-related cargoes that were never launched because would-be proliferators were deterred by the existence of PSI.

“We believe PSI has already had a deterrent effect,” he said, “and will increasingly have that effect.”

PSI serves as a vehicle to track and channel countries’ desire to do something to deter the nexus of terrorists, state-sponsors of terrorism, and those who would seek to develop nuclear, chemical, biological or radiological weapons.

In testimony submitted for the record, Rademaker said PSI is based on the premise that “the impact of states working together in a deliberately cooperative manner would be greater than states acting alone in an ad hoc fashion.”

The initiative “has been a fast-moving effort,” he said, “reflecting the urgency attached to establishing a more coordinated and active basis to prevent proliferation.”

PSI participants are training together, exchanging information and carrying out interdictions, Rademaker said.  “Partnerships are being forged, contacts are being made, and operational readiness is being improved – we are creating a lasting basis for cooperative action against proliferation," he said.

He told the subcommittee that diplomatic efforts are under way to increase international participation in PSI; Argentina is one of the newest nations to endorse the PSI Statement of Principles.  “We are seeking broader participation,” the assistant secretary added.

PSI also depends on the swift and effective exchange of intelligence information.  In this area, too, patterns of cooperation are being standardized, Rademaker said.

Royce said the Robb-Silberman Commission Report, issued in March, suggested that the U.S. intelligence community is ill-equipped to support PSI.  Rademaker said changes are being made to increase its ability to respond, including the planned formation of a Suppliers Interdiction Group.

Royce said PSI a good program and offered the subcommittee’s congratulations on the initiative’s successes to date.

For additional information about PSI, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)