Combating Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

President with the Prime Minister of Russia, the President of Ukraine, the President ofKazakhstan, and the Deputy President of South Africa, and (4) the National SecurityAdvisor’s membership on both the NSC Principals Committee and Deputies Committee.Advising the President. The Vice President directly advises the President on nationalsecurity affairs by several means. From the beginning of the Clinton Administration, theVice President has scheduled a private lunch with the President each week. The VicePresident’s agenda for this lunch is developed by his Chief of Staff, with inputs from thesenior staff, and may include matters related to proliferation if the National Security Advisordetermines that such matters are timely and important. As indicated above, the VicePresident attends the President’s daily intelligence and national security briefings in theOval Office. He also attends the President’s irregular meetings with his foreign policy team,at which proliferation-related issues are often discussed. The Vice President alsoparticipates in the President’s meetings with foreign leaders in the White House, where,depending on the relevance to the particular visitor, proliferation-related matters aresometimes on the agenda. The Vice President reviews all Principals Committee and otherdecision memoranda on national security matters, and his views are incorporated andspecified in the recommendations to the President. Additionally, the Vice President seesin advance, and often comments on, most presidential speeches and statements relatingto national security affairs, including those in which proliferation is an issue.Meeting with Foreign Officials. Vice President Al Gore has maintained an exceptionallyactive calendar of meetings with senior foreign officials, both in Washington and on officialvisits to foreign capitals. As a consequence of his interest and experience, he has beenasked by the President through his National Security Advisor to raise proliferation-relatedissues with a diverse group of foreign government officials, political leaders, and heads ofstate and government. He has developed close, personal relationships with several foreignleaders with whom he remains in contact via cables, telephone calls, and personalmeetings.A prominent, and public, example of the Vice President’s role in proliferation-relatedmatters was his acceptance of the task of addressing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT) Extension Conference in New York in May 1995. As a result of his personal relationswith some of the key foreign officials involved in the NPT conference, the Vice Presidentplayed an important part in developing and implementing the U.S. strategy that produceda successful outcome.Working through Binational Commissions. During their first summit in Vancouver inApril 1993, President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin discussed a variety ofeconomic and security issues, including proliferation matters. Among the agreementsreached at Vancouver was a plan to set up working groups involving high-level officials ofboth governments with broad authority in the areas of economic and scientific andtechnical cooperation. As part of this effort to stimulate close consultations between theirrespective governments, the two presidents agreed to establish a binational commission15