COOPERATIVE THREAT MANAGEMENT:

THE COOPERATIVE THREAT REDUCTION PROGRAM

The end of the Cold War greatly reduced a major threat to the international community. However, the disintegration of the Soviet Union saw the emergence of new threats. Four of the Newly Independent States (NIS), Russia, Ukraine, Kazakstan, and Belarus had strategic nuclear weapons stationed on their territory and possessed infrastructure related to the production of weapons of mass destruction. These countries were largely unprepared for the challenge of properly managing these weapons and infrastructures to assure that they would not fall into the wrong hands. In addition, it seemed that these countries would not be able to meet their arms control obligations under treaties signed with the United States.

To counter this threat, Congress passed legislation to provide assistance to Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus to assist these countries in meeting their arms control obligations and prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This legislation created the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, a Department of Defense program to carry out these objectives.

As the program’s name implies, the CTR program works through close cooperation between the United States and the NIS countries. Together American and NIS government representatives identify areas of concern, such as possible weapon proliferation threats, and develop strategies for how to meet these threats. To ensure that CTR program funds are used appropriately, the CTR program provides equipment, services, and training rather than cash to the recipient countries. The US government has also made agreements with the recipient countries that allow for US government personnel to make special inspections called audits & examinations to verify that CTR-provided equipment is being used for the purpose for which it was provided.

CTR projects can be divided into several functional areas. A number of CTR projects provide assistance to dismantle strategic nuclear delivery systems and their infrastructures. These systems and infrastructures include: missiles which deliver nuclear weapons; land-based silos, bombers and submarines that launch nuclear missiles; liquid rocket propellants which are used to fuel missiles that carry nuclear weapons; and facilities used to test nuclear weapons. Other projects, known as Chain of Custody projects, provide assistance to prevent the theft and smuggling of nuclear weapons, weapons components, or fissile material. A third major project area aids the NIS governments to eliminate chemical and biological weapons capabilities. The CTR program has in the past also funded projects to provide non-weapons related employment for former weapons scientists in the NIS and to convert former weapons production facilities to produce non weapons-related goods. These projects have been transferred from the CTR program to other parts of the federal government.

Some CTR projects include the following:

Assistance with the design and construction of a facility in Russia to provide safe, secure, and environmentally sound storage for fissile material from thousands of dismantled nuclear weapons.
Providing services to dismantle a former biological weapons facility in Kazakhstan.
Assistance with the design and construction of a facility to destroy a significant portion of Russia's chemical weapons stockpile.
Providing equipment and training to enhance security at fissile material storage sites in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.
Providing of equipment and services, including building a facility to test new security equipment, to the Russian government to facilitate the safe, secure, and ecologically sound transport of nuclear weapons to secure storage sites.
Assistance to develop security enhancements for nuclear weapons storage sites in Russia.
Establishing an International Science and Technology Center in Moscow and a Science and Technology Center in Kiev which provide non-military related employment for thousands of former Soviet weapons scientists and engineers.
Providing equipment, including computer networks and X-ray machines, and services and training to enhance export control capabilities in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

The CTR program is distinct in that it makes a substantial contribution toward stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The annual budget for the CTR Program is routinely less than one half of one percent of the entire annual Department of Defense budget. This modest investment in "defense by other means" yields a significant payoff to the national security of the United States.