Nonproliferation and Threat Reduction Assistance: U.S. Programs in the Former Soviet Union

Abstract

Congress passed the Nunn-Lugar amendment, authorizing U.S. threat reduction assistance to the former Soviet Union, in November 1991, after a failed coup in Moscow and the disintegration of the Soviet Union raised concerns about the safety and security of Soviet nuclear weapons. The annual program has grown from $400 million in the DOD budget around $1.1 billion across three agencies DOD ($372.2 million) DOE ($682.6 million) and the State Department ($63 million). It has also evolved from an emergency response to impending chaos in the Soviet Union, to a more comprehensive threat reduction and nonproliferation effort, to a broader program seeking to keep nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons from leaking out of the former Soviet Union and into the hands of rogue nations or terrorist groups. The Department of Defense manages the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program, which provides Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan with assistance in transporting, storing, and dismantling nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. U.S. assistance has helped these nations eliminate the delivery systems for nuclear weapons under the START I Treaty, secure weapons storage areas, construct a storage facility for nuclear materials removed from weapons, construct a destruction facility for chemical weapons, and secure biological weapons materials. The State Department manages the International Science and Technology Centers in Moscow and Kiev. These centers provide research grants to scientists and engineers so that they will not sell their knowledge to other nations or terrorist groups. The State Department has also provided assistance with export and border control programs in the former Soviet states. The Department of Energy manages programs that seek to improve the security of nuclear materials at civilian, naval, and nuclear weapons complex facilities. It also funds programs that help nuclear scientists and engineers find employment in commercial enterprises.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 26, 2006
Accession Number
ADA453633

Entities

People

  • Amy F. Woolf

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Arms Control
  • Arms Control Treaties
  • Chemical Weapons
  • Department Of State
  • Employment
  • Fissile Materials
  • Foreign Relations
  • Interagency Coordination
  • International Law
  • International Relations
  • Law
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Energy
  • Nuclear Materials
  • Nuclear Reactors
  • Radiological Weapons
  • Ussr

Fields of Study

  • Physics
  • Political science

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security
  • Strategic Security Studies