CTR Benefits
The CTR program represents a small investment when compared to the overall size of the DoD budget and to
the costs of major U.S. defense systems. This modest investment, just $1.27 billion since FY 1992, has been
responsible for facilitating the accomplishments noted previously in this booklet. Continuing the CTR
program will allow the United States to pursue the priorities and overall objectives listed earlier. The
payoffs can be enormous: The denuclearization of Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan; accelerated Russian
strategic arms reductions to START II levels; the initiation and acceleration of the destruction program for
Russian chemical weapons; enhanced security, safety, and control of nuclear weapons and fissile material in
Russia; progress in moving the scientific and industrial infrastructure in the NIS that has been dedicated to
producing Weapons of Mass Destruction to civilian commercial activities; and increased defense and
military-to-military contacts. All of this is made possible by a program whose FY 1995 budget of $400
million represented less than two-tenths of one percent of the entire DoD budget.
The United States spent billions -- perhaps trillions -- of dollars during the Cold War defending against Soviet
weapons of mass destruction. CTR assistance has made substantial progress in reducing the threat from
these weapons and in helping to ensure that new threats will not arise. The CTR program is a modest
investment with a big payoff for U.S. security. By maintaining this program of "defense by other means,"
the United States will continue to enhance its national security now and in the future.
