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Senator Lugar Proposes Expanding Cooperative Threat Reduction

01 November 2005

Destruction of conventional arms would be added to existing WMD programs

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is proposing legislation to add the destruction of conventional arms stockpiles to existing U.S. programs for working with foreign countries to destroy unsecured weapons of mass destruction.

Senator Richard Lugar told the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington November 1 that he and Senator Barack Obama (a Democrat from Illinois) would introduce the bipartisan bill -- titled “Cooperative Proliferation Detection, and Interdiction Assistance and Conventional Threat Reduction Act” -- that same day.

The Indiana Republican said he and former Senator Sam Nunn, with whom he sponsored the first cooperative threat-reduction legislation that became known as the Nunn-Lugar Program, "always have regarded Nunn-Lugar as … a disarmament concept and nonproliferation tool worthy of adaptation and expansion." 

The senator said that the program has expanded from an original focus on securing and destroying nuclear weapons stockpile of the former Soviet Union to include "all types of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and materials, as well as employing former weapons scientists."

Lugar said that the Nunn-Lugar Expansion Act, passed in 2003, permitted Nunn-Lugar funds to be used for disarmament programs worldwide, not just within the boundaries of the former Soviet Union.  In his new bill, he proposes to extend the program to cover conventional arms stockpiles in foreign countries.

"The United States can and should do more to eliminate conventional weapons stockpiles and assist other nations in detecting and interdicting weapons of mass destruction," Lugar said.  Currently, several different programs at the State Department focus on responding to threats from stockpiles of conventional weapons vulnerable to theft or illicit sale.

The Lugar-Obama bill, he said, would consolidate into one State Department office the planning, coordination and implementation of this function, "with a budget that is commensurate with the threat posed by these weapons."

The bill "calls upon the State Department to implement a global effort to seek out and destroy surplus and unguarded stocks of conventional armaments and to cooperate with allies and international organizations when possible," Lugar said.

For more information on U.S. policy, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and the Department of State electronic journal Today's Nuclear Equation, which contains Lugar’s article, "Taking Legislative Aim at Weapons of Mass Destruction". 

Following is an excerpt of Lugar's remarks:

(begin excerpt)

U.S. SENATOR RICHARD G. LUGAR
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations
Remarks on New Directions for Cooperative Threat Reduction
Council on Foreign Relations
Tuesday, November 1, 2005

… Since its founding, Sam Nunn and I always have regarded Nunn-Lugar [cooperative threat reduction program] as more than a government program.  We have seen it as a disarmament concept and non-proliferation tool worthy of adaptation and expansion. The Nunn-Lugar program and people like Jim Reid and Andy Weber, who manage its day-to-day operations, represent a tremendous national security asset that can be applied to situations well beyond the scope of the original Nunn-Lugar legislation.  Indeed, the program’s aims have been expanded from the focus on safeguarding and destroying strategic nuclear weapons to a much broader array of goals involving safely disposing of all types of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and materials, as well as employing former weapons scientists. In 2003, I offered the Nunn-Lugar Expansion Act, which was signed into law by President Bush. It allowed, for the first time, Nunn-Lugar funds to be used anywhere in the world, not just within the boundaries of the former Soviet Union. As I have advocated frequently, U.S. officials should be prepared to extend the Nunn-Lugar concept whenever opportunities present themselves. Some potential applications for the program -- North Korea, for example -- seem remote today. But the same could have been said for the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

In this spirit, Senator [Barack] Obama and I are introducing legislation, today, that will again extend the Nunn-Lugar concept to new areas of endeavor.  Our bill is titled the “Cooperative Proliferation Detection, and Interdiction Assistance and Conventional Threat Reduction Act.”

As Barack described, our trip included an examination of conventional weapons stockpiles near Donetsk, Ukraine.  We also visited Baku, Azerbaijan, where we observed the mock interdiction of a naval vessel playing the role of nuclear smuggler.

These visits and our subsequent joint research have convinced us that the United States can and should do more to eliminate conventional weapons stockpiles and assist other nations in detecting and interdicting weapons of mass destruction.  We believe that these functions are underfunded, fragmented, and in need of high-level support.

The U.S. government’s current response to threats from vulnerable conventional weapons stockpiles is dispersed between several programs at the Department of State.  We believe that the planning, coordination, and implementation of this function should be consolidated into one office at the State Department with a budget that is commensurate with the threat posed by these weapons.

We are particularly concerned that our government has the capacity to deal quickly with vulnerable stockpiles of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, known as MANPADS.  In recent years, concerns have grown that such weapons could be used by terrorists to attack commercial airliners, military installations, and government facilities here at home and abroad.  Al Qaeda reportedly has attempted to acquire MANPADS on a number of occasions.

The Lugar-Obama bill recognizes that the proliferation of conventional weapons is a major obstacle to peace, reconstruction, and economic development in regions suffering from conflict and instability.  It calls upon the State Department to implement a global effort to seek out and destroy surplus and unguarded stocks of conventional armaments and to cooperate with allies and international organizations when possible.

In Ukraine, we saw stacks of thousands of mortars, anti-personnel landmines, and other weapons, left over from the Soviet era.  The scene there is similar to situations in other states of the former Soviet Union, Africa, Latin America, and Asia.  I have also witnessed these threats firsthand in Albania and Georgia, where those governments have requested assistance in eliminating MANPADS, tactical missile systems, and millions of tons of ammunition and weapons.

In many cases, the security around these weapons is minimal –- particularly when the weapons are no longer being used by a nation’s military.  But as we have seen in Iraq, even obsolete weaponry and explosives can be reconfigured with deadly results.  If foreign governments know that the United States is poised to help them eliminate such weapons, they will be more likely to come forward with requests for help, as Albania and Georgia did.

Inevitably, some countries will decline our assistance, and their stockpiles will remain unsecured.  But this is not a reason to fail to secure the stockpiles that are opened to us. Every stockpile represents a theft opportunity for terrorists and a temptation for security personnel who might seek to profit by selling weapons on the black market.  The more stockpiles that can be safeguarded or eliminated, the safer we will be.  We do not want the question posed the day after an attack on an American military base, embassy compound, or commercial plane why we didn’t take these threats seriously.

Two years ago the Department of Energy combined several nonproliferation programs into the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) charged with identifying, securing, and disposing of vulnerable nuclear materials and equipment around the world.  We used GTRI as a blueprint for the organizational and programmatic structure needed in the conventional arms elimination arena.  By merging activities in a single office at the State Department and making it the lead federal agency in efforts to eliminate non-strategic missile systems, MANPADS, and all small arms, we will raise the profile and value of this important work.

The second part of the Lugar-Obama legislation is focused on U.S. efforts to assist allies in detecting and interdicting weapons of mass destruction.  The Nunn-Lugar Program is our country’s first line of defense against the threat posed by weapons and materials of mass destruction. It attempts to secure weapons of mass destruction at their source.  The Department of Homeland Security is our last line of defense, focused on detecting these threats inside U.S. borders and responding to attacks, if they occur.  Our bill would bolster the second line of defense, namely, our ability to stop weapons of mass destruction that have been taken from the source, but have not yet reached the United States.

To strengthen the second line of defense, we believe that we must improve the capabilities of other nations.  The United States military and intelligence services cannot be everywhere.  We need the cooperation and vigilance of like-minded nations to detect and interdict WMD threats.  The United States has constructed the Proliferation Security Initiative, which enlisted the participation of other nations in the interdiction of WMD.  PSI is an excellent step forward in our communications with foreign governments on WMD interdiction.  But what is lacking is a coordinated effort to improve the capabilities of our foreign partners so that they can play a larger detection and interdiction role.

The Lugar-Obama bill creates a single office dedicated to supporting the detection and interdiction of WMD.  The State Department engages in several related anti-terrorism and export control assistance programs to foreign countries.  But these programs are focused on other stages of the threat, not on the detection and interdiction of WMD cargo.  Thus, we believe there is a gap in our defenses that needs to be filled.

The Lugar-Obama bill earmarks 25 percent of the Nonproliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining, and Related Programs account to address the shortcomings in the State Department’s response.  This would have amounted to $110 million this year.  Our bill goes one step further by calling on the State Department to also commit 25 percent of annual foreign military financing amounts to nations for the purchase of equipment to improve their ability to detect and interdict WMD.  This would represent a potent but flexible tool that could help build a network of WMD detection and interdiction capabilities worldwide.

Senator Obama and I give the State Department the flexibility to determine how these funds should be used.  This is because a “one-size-fits-all” approach does not work with FMF [foreign military financing] funds. Some recipients of U.S. security assistance, such as Israel, already are capable of detecting and interdicting WMD.  Other potential recipients are unable to utilize effectively such detection and interdiction assistance because they lack the basic military structures to employ it.  We require the administration to outline for Congress the rationale behind the decision not to invoke the 25 percent requirement clause.  Through this reporting requirement, we are seeking to ensure that Congress remains an active participant in important decisions on foreign military financing.

I am confident that the ongoing reorganization of the arms control and non-proliferation bureaus, under the direction of Under Secretary [of State for Arms Control and International Security] Bob Joseph, provides us with an excellent opportunity to reshape, refocus and reinvigorate the State Department’s nonproliferation mission. The Lugar-Obama legislation is intended to assist in the transformation of the Department’s efforts.

The U.S. response to conventional weapons threats and the lack of focus on WMD detection and interdiction assistance must be rectified if we are to provide a full and complete defense for the American people.  We look forward to working closely with the administration on these proposals and will benefit from their recommendations on ways to perfect our legislation.  The Lugar-Obama bill is a critical step forward in improving our ability to protect the United States and its citizens.

The complete text of Lugar's speech can be found at http://lugar.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=248080

(end excerpt)

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