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Lugar to Introduce New CTR Legislation By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) is set to introduce new legislation tomorrow intended to increase U.S. nonproliferation efforts outside of the former Soviet Union (see GSN, Oct. 22). The bill would eliminate many of the restrictions placed on the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which seeks to secure and dispose of former Soviet weapons of mass destruction. The program is also known as the Nunn-Lugar program for its two architects — Lugar and former Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.). The bill, the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Act of 2004, would eliminate the annual $50 million cap on CTR funding spent on projects outside of the former Soviet Union, and would transfer authority to use CTR funds outside of the former Soviet Union from the president to the defense secretary. Last month, President George W. Bush authorized the first project outside of the former Soviet Union to receive CTR funding — the destruction of Cold War-era chemical weapons in Albania. The bill would also eliminate six congressional conditions on the CTR program that must be met before program funding can be provided, as well as six conditions placed by lawmakers specifically on aid for Russian chemical weapons disarmament. Such program-wide conditions include that a recipient country make a “substantial investment of its own resources” for destroying weapons of mass destruction and that it agree to forgo using fissile materials taken from destroyed nuclear weapons in new nuclear weapons. In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush was unable for the first time to certify that Russia had met all six program-wide conditions, resulting in a halt to CTR funding until he was able to obtain and use authority to waive the certification requirement in early 2003. According to a fact sheet released by Lugar’s office, the certification process has provided CTR opponents within Russia with an excuse to blame the United States for delays caused by a lack of access and transparency on the part of Moscow. The process has also caused delays for months in the availability of funds for CTR projects even when presidential waivers were in place, the fact sheet says. Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball today praised the bill, saying it would be an “important boost” to eliminating restrictions “unwisely” placed on the CTR program by Congress. To get the bill passed, however, Lugar will need help from both the White House and from within the House of Representatives, Kimball said, noting that influential House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) has supported the conditions placed on the CTR program. Kimball also said he hoped Lugar would seek CTR program funding increases to accelerate work in “key areas,” including the construction of a chemical weapons disposal plant in the Russian city of Shchuchye and the elimination of stockpiles of highly enriched uranium around the world. The program’s budget for fiscal 2005 is about $410 million. In addition to introducing the bill tomorrow when lawmakers return to Washington for a “lame-duck” session, Lugar plans to reintroduce the legislation when Congress reconvenes in January. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Nunn is chief executive officer, and Richard Lugar serves on the board, of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.]
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