The U.S. objectives in the CTR program as established by Congress are to cooperate with the NIS to:
Through the CTR program, the Department of Defense provides equipment, services, and technical advice to Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine to assist them in eliminating (or in the case of Russia, reducing) the weapons of mass destruction remaining from the Soviet era, preventing proliferation, and dismantling the associated infrastructure or transforming portions of it to engage in peaceful civilian activities.
Although its history dates only from the end of 1991, the CTR program has contributed to many measurable and observable accomplishments that have reduced the threat facing the United States. Several of these accomplishments are enumerated in this booklet. In addition, the Department of Defense has a coordinated plan for the future of the CTR program, to ensure that it will continue to reduce the dangers to U.S. security while remaining one of the most economical, yet effective, defense programs being undertaken.
The CTR program provides the services, tools, and technology required to help the NIS with the elimination or reduction of weapons of mass destruction and to modernize and expand safeguards against proliferation within the NIS. The program consists currently of nearly 40 separate projects, most under bilateral implementing agreements or memoranda of understanding between the United States and the recipient governments. CTR program activities are grouped into three categories, reflecting the objectives established by Congress.
First, Destruction and Dismantlement activities help with the dismantlement and elimination of weapons of mass destruction and their launchers in the four eligible states where they remain (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine). The availability of U.S. assistance encourages these countries to undertake the dismantling of weapons, and then the CTR program provides the actual equipment, services, and training required to implement their dismantlement decisions. Specifically, CTR Dismantlement and Destruction activities are:
Destroyed ICBM Silo in Ukraine
Second, through Chain of Custody activities, the CTR program decreases the dangers from the nuclear weapons and fissile materials that remain in the NIS, particularly Russia. During the difficult and uncertain period of transition in these states, the continued secure chain of custody of nuclear weapons and materials is vitally important to both the United States and the NIS. Chain of Custody activities enhance security, safety, and control of nuclear weapons and fissile material in Russia by assisting in centralizing fissile material in a limited number of storage areas and strengthening safety, security, and control during movement and interim storage. Projects provide assistance to enhance effective controls over nuclear weapons and the fissile materials removed from them throughout the drawdown and dismantle-ment of these weapons. This includes providing safe and secure transportation of nuclear weapons from operational sites and storage areas to dismantlement facilities; improved security and accountability for weapons in transit; safer and more secure storage and transport of fissile material removed from nuclear weapons by providing storage containers; and designing, equipping, and assisting in construction of centralized fissile material storage facilities.
Finally, CTR supports Demilitarization efforts. CTR Demilitarization activities are encouraging the demilitarization of Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia by supporting conversion of NIS defense enterprises, expanding defense and military contacts, and re-employing weapons scientists. These activities are decreasing the long-term threat by reducing the capacity and economic pressures in the NIS to continue to produce weapons of mass destruction.
CTR-supported defense conversion industrial partnerships help to reduce the potential of a future nuclear threat at its source, as do international science and technology centers the United States and other countries have set up in Moscow and Kiev. Through these centers, former Soviet nuclear scientists and engineers are being reemployed in peaceful, civilian endeavors. These projects reduce the supply of weapons of mass destruction available for foreign sale, the incentives for relying on such sales for income, and provide job alternatives for weapons scientists who might otherwise be tempted to sell their nuclear expertise abroad. The defense conversion investments under CTR are win-win-win: They help reduce the threats from weapons of mass destruction; they help the NIS build peaceful, commercially viable market economies while reducing excess military capacity; and they provide opportunities for U.S. industry's entry into potentially large markets for civilian goods and services.
Demilitarization also includes enhanced defense and military contacts between the United States and the NIS. When the Soviet Union dissolved, the successor states were left with forces, structures, and equipment that were not well-suited to the post-Soviet, post-Cold War world. Through defense and military contacts, the United States is able to assist in the training and support of personnel in these countries for demilitarization and protection of weapons, weapons components, and weapons technology and expertise.
