Global Security: in Search of a New Vision - Center for Strategic ...

Combating Nuclear Terrorism and WMD Proliferation 95
low-enriched ura nium. We also reviewed the first two exer cises con ducted to date under this ini tia tive: a
table-top exer cise con ducted by Spain sim u lat ing an RDD attack on a city and a large-scale field exer cise
in Kazakhstan involv ing over 900 troops, intel li gence, law enforce ment, and other offi cials.
Another key point that we dis cussed at the meet ing was enhanc ing pub lic and pri vate-sec tor coop er a -
tion to mit i gate the risk of nuclear ter ror ism. The pri vate sec tor con trols and oper ates the bulk of the
facil i ties and tech nol ogy for the move ment of peo ple and mate rial around the globe. This sup ply chain
includes air ports, ports, rail roads, tele com mu ni ca tions, bank ing and finance net works, and other key
infra struc ture that ter ror ists might exploit. In Madrid, we hosted a panel with pri vate-sec tor and local
gov ern ment rep re sen ta tives on ways to inte grate the pri vate sec tor with ongo ing efforts to com bat
nuclear ter ror ism through a vari ety of activ i ties. Part ner-nations agreed to develop addi tional
plan-of-work activ i ties and exer cises that pro mote pri vate-sec tor coop er a tion with national, state, and
local gov ern ments to com bat nuclear ter ror ism.
Look ing ahead, part ner-nations will expand the counterterrorism work of the Global Ini tia tive.
Morocco has done excel lent work in the Global Ini tia tive on denial of ter ror ist safe haven and in coun ter -
ing the root causes of ter ror ism. Part ner-nations in Madrid com mit ted to deep en ing par tic i pa tion by fur -
ther inte grat ing the counterproliferation and counterterrorism com mu ni ties. Part ner-nations will also
strive to develop addi tional robust capa bil i ties for attri bu tion, nuclear foren sics, and detec tion of nuclear
materials.
DEFENDING AGAINST WMD PROLIFERATION AND
NUCLEAR TERRORISM
Even as we expend max i mum effort to deny irre spon si ble states and ter ror ists access to nuclear and
other weap ons of mass destruc tion, we must be pre pared to defend our selves should they suc ceed.
Improved chem i cal and bio log i cal defenses are essen tial for this. Another cen tral require ment for
defend ing against poten tial WMD attack is effec tive mis sile defenses. Such defenses dis cour age pro lif er -
a tion, give us an impor tant tool for deter ring a WMD attack deliv ered by mis sile, and give us a means to
defeat an attack if nec es sary.
The num ber of states pos sess ing bal lis tic mis siles has nearly tri pled in the last three decades, from nine
in 1972 to over two dozen in 2008. The pres ence of mis sile defenses under mines the abil ity of irre spon -
si ble states to use the threat of bal lis tic mis sile attack to coerce states and actu ally makes it far less likely
that an adver sary would ever use mis siles dur ing a con flict. We are work ing closely with NATO, and par -
tic u larly with Poland and the Czech Repub lic, to aug ment coop er a tion on mis sile defense. We are pleased
that the NATO Alli ance has reached a con sen sus on this impor tant issue as embod ied in the com mu ni -
qué from the recent NATO Sum mit in Bucha rest, which rec og nized:
The threat fac ing the Alli ance from WMD and bal lis tic mis siles
That mis sile defenses are an impor tant ele ment of a broader strat egy to coun ter this threat
That the U.S.-led sys tem offers sub stan tial pro tec tion of Allies
That the Alli ance should explore options for expand ing cov er age for NATO mem ber-states
NORTH KOREA AND IRAN
Lastly, let me touch on the chal lenges posed by North Korea and Iran. In the case of North Korea, we
are pur su ing imple men ta tion of agree ments we reached at the Six-Party Talks, which call for North
Korea to aban don all exist ing nuclear pro grams and its nuclear weap ons. We have made prog ress through