Combating Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Senate, and who is also dual-hatted as the President’s Science Advisor. The extent ofOSTP’s engagement in proliferation matters depends in large measure on the interest andcommitment of the individual in this position.OSTP’s proliferation-related activities are conducted in the National Security andInternational Affairs (NSIA) Division. The Division is headed by an Associate Director whois subject to Senate confirmation and is dual-hatted as Senior Director for Science andTechnology (S&T) on the National Security Council staff. The NSIA Division develops andsupports science and technology policy in national security, the commerce-security nexus,and international affairs. The Division’s National Security staff consists of four persons, allof whom hold advanced degrees in science or technology. The previous AssociateDirector, herself a Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics, estimated that 25 percent of thatgroup’s work was devoted to proliferation-related issues.Participation in the Interagency Policy Process. As a consequence of its policy focusand significant scientific and technical expertise, yet small staff, OSTP’s involvement inproliferation matters occurs primarily through participation in interagency activities.The Associate Director is a member of the IWG on Non-Proliferation and Export Controls,through which OSTP has been involved in Administration efforts to arrange the dispositionof Russian excess weapons-grade plutonium, to facilitate a domestic consensus and theimplementation of a strategy for the disposition of U.S. weapons-grade plutonium, and tomonitor implementation of the highly enriched uranium (HEU) purchase agreement andthe blend down of U.S. HEU. The Associate Director formerly co-chaired, with an NSCDirector for Non-Proliferation and Export Controls, the IWG’s sub-group on PlutoniumDisposition. OSTP remains an active member of this group. (OSTP also co-chairs with theRussian Ministry of Atomic Energy (MINATOM) the U.S.-Russian Plutonium DispositionJoint Steering Committee to oversee R&D cooperation in this area.) OSTP participates inother sub-groups of the IWG on Non-Proliferation and Export Controls, including the Sub-Group on Biological Weapons and the Sub-Group on Chemical Weapons.The Associate Director, in her role as NSC Senior Director for S&T, chairs the Researchand Development (R&D) Sub-Group of the WMD Protection, Consequence Managementand Preparedness Panel established under PDD-62. This group examines how best todeploy U.S. scientific and technical capabilities to prevent, detect, mitigate against,respond to, and/or recover from terrorist attack, with special attention to possible terroristuse of chemical and biological weapons.In the area of ballistic missile proliferation, OSTP is working with CIA experts to understandthe major technological hurdles to the development of ICBMs and, in particular, the addeddifficulty of developing ICBMs, as compared to shorter range missiles. Also, in the wake ofthe Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapon tests, OSTP is leading an interagency effort toevaluate and recommend policy with respect to on-going collaborations with thesecountries.23