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#18 - RW 10-22-04 - RW Home
American Foreign Service Association
The United States Foreign Service
2004 HIGH SCHOOL ESSAY CONTEST
Controlling Russian Weapons of Mass Destruction:
21st Century Solutions to a 20th Century Problem
-- 2004 Essay Contest winning essay
By Andrew Rohrbach (Thomas Jefferson High School, Alexandria, Virginia)
For over fifty years, the focal point of American foreign policy was our
relationship with the Soviet Union. United States actions in most key areas
centered on countering the Soviets. Priorities have changed dramatically as a
result of the fall of the iron curtain and the events of September 11th. The
attention of the American Foreign Service has shifted to fighting terrorism, and
the Middle East has received increased attention. However, America continues to
have a major interest in an issue left over from the Cold War-era: the control
of weapons of mass destruction. Russia and the former Soviet states have tens of
thousands of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons that are often
unprotected, insufficiently maintained, or poorly secured. Indeed, a mere 38% of
Russian nuclear material had been protected by 2003, according to a recent
report from the General Accounting Office. In order for the United States to
prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of terrorists,
we must continue our efforts to safeguard or destroy these weapons.
Soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the State Department played a
major role in the development of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat-Reduction (CTR)
program, a federal program credited with the destruction or securing of over
6,000 Russian nuclear warheads ("Conversion of Soviet Weapons"). Since then, the
American Foreign Service has continued to have a critical role in this endeavor.
The challenge of securing Russian weapons of mass destruction requires a joint
effort by both nations. For example, the State Department has worked with the
governments of the former Soviet States as part of its Export Control and
Related Border Security Assistance Program to write and implement new,
wide-ranging export laws and provide cooperation and support for enforcement of
the laws already in existence ("EXBS Program"). Other examples of CTR efforts
include those in the 1990s by the State Department's Nonproliferation and
Disarmament Fund to facilitate cooperation between the Department of Energy and
the Russian Kurachatov Institute to research the feasibility of converting
Russian plutonium reactors into solely-power generation plants, and to establish
a website jointly with the Russian Center on Export Controls for Russia's
military-industrial complex regarding, among other things, customs laws and the
export procedure regarding dual-use materials ("Internet Site for Exporters").
In addition, the American Foreign Service has tried to gain information from
the governments of Russia and the other former Soviet republics that possessed
weapons of mass destruction, and to develop programs based on that information.
The Foreign Service convinced the G-8 nations to help fund and support CTR (Moltz).
The State Department has worked with Congress to increase funding of the CTR
programs, succeeding recently with President Bush's authorization of $150
million to build a facility for destroying chemical weapons in Russia (Eisler).
Another important facet of the problem involves the ex-Soviet weapons
scientists, many of whom are unemployed. The Foreign Service has worked with the
Russian government to develop programs to retrain these researchers (Joffe). One
example is the venture between Numotech, an American medical firm, and Spektr-Conversion,
a Russian company, to employ Russian ex-scientists to make medical supplies
("Joint Russian-US Nuclear Cities"). The State Department also coordinates
American involvement in the International Science & Technology Center (ISTC), an
international organization that solicits grant proposals from Russian WMD
scientists. The ISTC provides the scientists with market-competitive salaries to
work on non-WMD related projects like the environment or fusion reactors, rather
than on nuclear programs of other nations (Russia: ISTC). Congress has also
authorized the State Department to receive funding for the support and
coordination of other similar programs for these scientists, such as the Science
and Technology Center in Ukraine (STUC) and the Redirection of Biotechnical
Scientists Program (Congressional Research Service).
The work of the American Foreign Service is not complete. A recent GAO report
on the subject was subtitled "Additional Russian Cooperation Needed to
Facilitate U.S. Efforts to Improve Security at Russian Sites" (General
Accounting Office). In this report, Russia is estimated to have 600 metric tons
of nuclear material, but the United States is being slowed by a lack of access
to the sites (Ibid). Negotiations by the State Department in conjunction with
the Department of Energy are vital for securing this access. A 2003 report by a
group of think tanks agrees with the conclusions of the GAO, saying that
"Building a better international relationship with Russia would help reduce the
threat of weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union and its
erstwhile republics…" ("Plan for Dealing with Soviet Weapons") It is only
through the ongoing work of the American Foreign Service to foster cooperative
relationships with Russia and other nations that the goal of securing weapons of
mass destruction and preventing them from falling into the hands of terrorists
can be achieved.
Works Cited
1. Congressional Research Service. Federation of American Scientists.
Preventing Proliferation of Biological Weapons: U.S. Assistance to Former Soviet
States. 10 April 2002. 29 February 2004 <http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/crs/RL31368.pdf>
2. Conversion of Soviet Weapons of Mass Destruction. 19 Dec. 2003 . Nunn-Lugar
Cooperative Threat-Reduction Program. 26 January 2004. <http://www.nunn-lugar.com/>
3. "Core Converstion: Nuclear Reactors." Nonproliferation and Disarmament
Fund. 13 Sept. 1995. U.S. Department of State. 29 February 2004 <http://www.ndf.org/Projects/ViewProject.jsp?ProjectId=46>
4. General Accounting Office. Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory
Council. Weapons of Mass Destruction: Additional Russian Cooperation Needed to
Facilitate U.S. Efforts to Improve Security at Russian Sites. 24 March 2003. 26
January 2004 <http://www.ransac.org/documents/do3482.pdf>
5. Eisler, Peter. "Bush frees cash to secure Soviet arms U.S. wants to stop
foes from getting weapons." USA Today 14 January 2003. Johnson's Russia List,
Center for Defense Information. 16 January 2004 <http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7018-10.cfm>
6. "EXBS Program: Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance,
The."U.S. Department of State. 2003. United States Department of State. 29
February 2004 <http://www.state.gov/t/np/export/ecc/20779.htm>
7. "Internet Site for Exporters." Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund. 05
March 1997. U.S. Department of State. 29 February 2004 <http://www.ndf.org/Projects/ViewProject.jsp?ProjectId=69>
8. Joffe, A.H. "Environmental Security and the Consequences of WMD
Production: An Emerging International Issue" Disarmament Diplomacy 54 (Feb.
2001). 26 January 2004 <http://www.acronym.org.uk/dd/dd54/54joffe.htm>
9. "Joint U.S.-Russian Nuclear Cities Venture Launched." Arms Control Today
33. 10 (Dec. 2003). 26 January 2004 <http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2003_12/newsbriefs.asp>
10. Moltz, James Clay. "Testimony Before the Subcommittees on Europe and on
International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights of the Committee on
International Relations of the U.S. House of Representatives." 14 May 2003.
Center for Nonproliferation Studies. 26 January 2004 <http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/reports/testcm.htm>
11. "Plan for dealing with Soviet weapons legacy announced." CNN. 20 January
2003. 26 January 2004 <http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7027-2.cfm>
12. Russia: International Science & Technology Center (ISTC). 2003. Nuclear
Threat Initiative. 29 Feb.2004 <http://www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/russia/forasst/otherusg/istc.htm>
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