In a remote Russian complex near a town called Shchuchye, there are 14 old wooden warehouses. Some have broken windows covered over with chicken wire. The high fence and the military guards are the only hint of what is inside one of the world’s largest stockpiles of deadly nerve gas, nearly 2 million easily portable artillery shells and missile warheads filled with lethal sarin, soman and VX. It’s enough to kill the world population 20 times over.
These chemical weapons, part of a massive Soviet-era arsenal that totals more than 40,000 metric tons, must be eliminated before they fall into the hands of terrorists. The U.S. and Russia, along with 153 other countries, approved a treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, to do just that: ban the production of chemical weapons and destroy our huge stockpiles that were built during the Cold War. It is clearer than ever that our own national security is bolstered by a vigorous international campaign to contain and destroy all chemical weapons stockpiles.
Yet today we are halfway through the convention’s 10-year timetable for getting rid of all chemical weapons, and not one weapon at Shchuchye (pronounced shoe-cha) has been destroyed. With the world threatened by global terrorists seeking weapons of mass destruction, it is hard to overstate how serious this problem is. A single 85 mm artillery shell from Shchuchye can be concealed in a briefcase, but carries enough poison gas to kill up to 100,000 people. A disgruntled insider could smuggle one out, or a determined group of well-armed terrorists could penetrate the installation’s defenses.
There is plenty of blame to go around for this lack of progress. In the past, Moscow was unable to pay its share of destruction costs and was suspicious of providing information on its weapons programs. On our side, for three years, funds from the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program designated for Shchuchye were blocked by some who assert that Russia’s failure to comply with its CWC obligations requires the suspension of joint chemical weapons destruction efforts. We need to keep pressing Russia on these shortcomings, but our frustration with the Russians must not interfere with our national security interest: to eliminate the deadly chemical weapons stockpile.
Although Congress granted President Bush temporary waiver authority to get the money flowing again, the United States lost valuable time on an urgent project. We are in a race to rid the world of these dreadful weapons before terrorists get their hands on them, and we shouldn’t let self-imposed bureaucratic hassles slow us down. Some in Congress and in the administration ask why we should spend money to clean up the Russian mess: “They made their bed, now they can lie in it.” The trouble is, in the meantime terrorists could break into the bedroom, steal weapons of mass destruction and use them against our armed forces, the United States or our allies.
Moscow has provided more than $100 million for the disposal facility at Shchuchye, but without outside help, the work won’t be completed. Other countries, including Canada, the Czech Republic, the European Union, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and England are helping Russia to destroy additional chemical weapons. But until late last year, Congress was holding up U.S. assistance to the facility at Shchuchye.
At the urging of President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, House and Senate negotiators agreed to full funding for chemical weapons destruction as part of the Pentagon’s 2004 authorization. The bill granted Bush a one-year waiver authority so the work at Shchuchye can continue, and fully funded the rest of the Nunn-Lugar program.
Congress for the first time agreed to expand the threat reduction program to respond to emergencies outside the former Soviet Union, where vulnerable stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction abound. This is encouraging progress, but we must do more by granting President Bush the permanent waiver authority he has requested, which would allow the use of Nunn-Lugar more broadly so we can act decisively against the threat of terrorists gaining access to such weapons. The president recently cited expansion of Nunn-Lugar as a key part of his effort to strengthen the world’s non-proliferation efforts.
Global terrorists remain on the prowl, looking for new targets and, no doubt, new weapons. Getting rid of the huge cache of potential terrorist weapons at Shchuchye will make Americans safer.
