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State Department Official Touts Nonproliferation Policy

10 November 2005

Joseph says one aspect was development of national strategy for WMD

Washington -- The current U.S. administration has undertaken more effective multilateral initiatives and more multilateral diplomatic efforts to block and roll back nuclear proliferation than any previous administration, a senior State Department official says.

"While we have clearly not solved all the problems, we are taking on the problems very directly, with realism and determination, and in league with our international partners," said Robert Joseph, under secretary of state for arms control and international security, at the 2005 Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference in Washington November 7.

Almost immediately on assuming office, Joseph said, President Bush realized that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction required a new and comprehensive approach.

When the National Strategy to Combat Weapons Of Mass Destruction was promulgated in 2002, it "was really the first of its kind -- a broad, truly national and international strategy, which united all the elements of national power -- including diplomacy, intelligence, law enforcement, and military -- needed to counter WMD."

The strategy, Joseph said, rested on three pillars:  prevention, protection and consequence management.

Prevention involves efforts to keep WMD and related materials and delivery systems from terrorists or rogue states.  Protection refers to counterproliferation, he said, with capabilities to deter, detect, defend against and defeat WMD already possessed by terrorists or rogue states.  Consequence management means reducing as much or as many consequences of WMD attacks at home or abroad as possible.

Joseph also spoke at some length about the U.S. administration's effective multilateral action against proliferation, including: Nunn-Lugar programs to secure or destroy at-risk nuclear weapons and weapons materials; the G8 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction; the Global Threat Reduction Initiative to reduce and secure fissile and radioactive material worldwide; the Second Line of Defense and Megaports programs to install radiation detection capabilities at major seaports, airports and border crossings; redirection programs in Libya and Iraq to provide alternative employment for weapons scientists and engineers; and passage in 2004 of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540.

Joseph also made specific reference to Iran and its pursuit of nuclear weapons.  Iran, he said, "has pursued numerous routes to acquire an indigenous nuclear fuel cycle capability to provide it with fissile material for weapons," both via the use of plutonium and enriched uranium.

"All of these efforts involved a dizzying array of cover stories and false statements," Joseph said.  "Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is real -- an issue the Bush administration takes -- and believes the international community takes -- very seriously."

Joseph's remarks are available on the State Department Web site.

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