Combating Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

ole as a supplier of ballistic missiles to aquire WMD materials and components, especiallyfor nuclear weapons. Iran has manufactured and stockpiled chemical weapons, includingblister, blood, and choking agents, as well as the bombs and artillery shells with which todeliver them. In fact, most of the seven state sponsors of terrorism (Cuba, Iran, Iraq,Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria) either have or are seeking weapons of massdestruction. More than a dozen states have offensive chemical and/or biologicalweapons programs. And despite seven years of intrusive on-site inspections, the UnitedNations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)have not been able to certify that Iraq’s WMD programs have been eliminated.Nuclear weapons can be delivered in the back of a truck or covertly launched from a merchantship, chemical weapons dispersed from a paper bag, and biological weapons spread by acrop duster. These “low-tech” delivery methods are likely to be favored by terrorists. Statethreats, however, include the use of WMD loaded on cruise or ballistic missiles. Here, too, therisk is growing. In August 1998, North Korea unexpectedly launched a three-stage TaepoDong-1 ballistic missile over Japanese territory. This followed a previously successsful testflight of North Korea’s No Dong ballistic missile over Japanese territory in May 1993. NorthKorea’s missile-related exports to Iran helped Tehran “save years” in the development of theShahab-3 missile, tested in 1998. 4Diversion of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, technology, materials,or expertise from Russia:We know of seven instances since 1992 in which weapons-usable fissile materials werestolen from Russian facilities. The continuing economic meltdown in Russia hasheightened the risk of both further material leakage and the “brain drain” of technicalexpertise. Russia has no reliable inventory of its fissile material, and Russian vulnerabilityto an “insider” threat is increased by power outages at Russian nuclear installations, by theneed for unpaid guards and technicians to forage for food, and by sporadic violence bothby and against personnel from the Ministries of Defense and Atomic Energy. Manydangerous state and sub-national actors would like to exploit Russia’s troubles in order toacquire nuclear weapons or small quantities of weapons-usable materials.China’s role as a significant proliferator of ballistic missiles, weapons ofmass destruction, and enabling technologies:China has carried out extensive transfers to Iran’s solid-fuel ballistic and cruise missileprograms. It has supplied Pakistan with a design for a nuclear weapon and additional nuclearweapons ballistic missile assistance. It has transferred complete ballistic missile systems toSaudi Arabia (the 3,100-kilometer range CSS-2) and Pakistan (the 350-kilometer range4Id. at 4.2