Weapons of Mass Destruction
Legacy's Cooperative Threat Reduction Working Group
The D.C.-based Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Working Group, chaired by Global Green USA's Legacy Program, is an informal network of arms control, peace, environment, health and technology experts and Congressional staff which meets to discuss and strategize on issues related to weapons of mass destruction and threat reduction.
The CTR Working Group is named after the Cooperative Threat Reduction ('Nunn-Lugar') Program, a congressional initiative authorizing U.S. assistance to the Former Soviet Union to dismantle and destroy weapons of mass destruction, strengthen the security of nuclear weapons and fissile materials in connection with dismantlement, prevent proliferation, and help demilitarize the infrastructure supporting weapons of mass destruction. A major focus of the CTR Working Group is to promote the program through education, letter-writing campaigns and media outreach, and to strengthen the CTR Program through policy recommendations.
March 30 , 2006 - Global Green USA's Washington, DC office hosted a discussion on steps forward on WMD threat reduction and nonproliferation
January 12 , 2006 - Global Green USA's Washington, DC office hosted a roundtable discussion with government officials, Conmgressional staff and experts on WMD threat reduction WMD proliferation prevention priorities in the coming year.
March 24, 2005 - Global Green USA's Washington, DC office hosted a CTR Working Group discussion on FY06 CTR funding request, priorities and prospects for CTR; and WMD threat reduction lefislation in the 109th Congress. Department of Energy officials and professional staff members from House and Senater Armed Services Committees addressed threat reduction legislation and funding.
January 27, 2005 - Global Green USA's Washington, DC office hosted a Cooperative Threat Reduction Working Group meeting on the security and environmental threats posed by Russia's decommissioned nuclear submarines, featuring Grigory Pasko , a former Russian naval captain, military journalist and environmental whistle-blower. Officials from countries assisting Russia with nuclear submarine dismantlement, including Germany, Japan, Norway, and the United Kingdom -- discussed their national assistance programs.
November 18, 2004 - Global Green USA's Washington, DC office hosted a Cooperative Threat Reduction Working Group meeting on "Threat Reduction and the Global Partnership: A Discussion of Current Progress and Challenges." State representatives of the G8 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction and NGO representatives met to discuss current efforts to assist Russia demilitarize its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and related systems.
September 17, 2004 - Global Green USA's Washington, DC office hosted a Cooperative Threat Reduction Working Group meeting on Russia's floating nuclear power plants, featuring Dr. Vladimir M. Kuznetsov Director of Green Cross Russia's program for nuclear and radiation safety.
For more information on the CTR Working Group, please contact Cristian Ion at cion@globalgreen.org
Legacy News
U.S. Boosts Funding for Last Two CW Disposal Sites
Global Security Newswire. Nov 6, 2008. By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department has received its highest-ever budget for preparing two chemical weapons disposal sites that hold the key to meeting the congressional demand to eliminate the entire U.S. stockpile by 2017.
The $427.5 million provided to the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program for fiscal 2009 is a step in the right direction toward providing the money that will be needed to meet the deadline, one longtime observer said.
Paul Walker, security and sustainability program head for Global Green USA, estimated that the Army’s side of chemical weapons elimination is more likely to be finished in 2013 to 2014. Learn More
South Korea Completes Destruction of Its Chemical Weapons Stockpile
Environmental News Service. October 17, 2008.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - In a step towards the global elimination of chemical weapons, South Korea has become the second country to destroy its declared chemical weapons stockpile. The country beat its December 31, 2008 deadline by at least three months.
The accomplishment, which took place since June, has not been announced publicly because South Korea has requested full confidentiality under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty that requires the destruction of all chemical weapons stockpiles worldwide.
Dr. Paul Walker, director of Global Green USA's Security and Sustainability Program, has been following this issue.
"The elimination of several thousand tons of deadly nerve agents in South Korea marks a major historic initiative in global abolition of chemical weapons, in implementation of the international Chemical Weapons Convention, and in demilitarizing the Korean Peninsula," he said today.
"South Korea deserves our sincere congratulations in destroying its entire chemical weapons arsenal and making the Korean Peninsula a more stable and peaceful region," said Walker. Learn More
Abolishing Chemical Weapons Globally: Successes and Challenges - An NGO Perspective
OPCW. September 24, 2008. By: Dr Paul F. Walker, Legacy Program Director, Global Green USA
The successful, verified elimination of some 40% of the six declared chemical weapons stockpiles in the first 11 years of the Chemical Weapons Convention represents a major achievement for the treaty regime and its implementing body, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The primary goal of the Convention – the total elimination of existing chemical weapons stockpiles – is well on the way to being met in the foreseeable future. Learn More
What I've Learned: Mikhail Gorbachev
ESQUIRE. Sept 10, 2008. By Cal Fussman
That Louis Vuitton ad? The proceeds go to Green Cross International and its American counterpart, Global Green. Also, I travel a lot, and a good bag comes in handy.
Look at what happened in New Orleans. Look at how big the blow was and how difficult the consequences are in dealing with such a blow. Imagine what would happen in a situation where nuclear weapons were used. Imagine the effect of the radiation. It's been years since the Chernobyl accident, and there are towns and villages where people do not live. The towns are still there. They haven't been torn down, but not a single person lives there. So this is a very serious matter--more than serious. Learn More
Hopeful Gorbachev receives Liberty Medal
Philadelphia Daily News, Sept. 19, 2008. By Stephanie Farr
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev accepted the 2008 Liberty Medal last night at the National Constitution Center after delivering a sharp rebuttal to remarks made earlier in the day by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Gorbachev was honored with the 20th Liberty Medal for his role in ending the Cold War and bringing "glasnost," or political openness, to the former Soviet Union.
"He knew it was up to him to lead this revolution," Mayor Nutter said. Learn More
Russia opens 4th chemical weapons destruction plant
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE. June 17, 2008.
Russia opened a fourth plant Tuesday to destroy its chemical weapons stockpiles, which are the largest in the world.
The destruction facility, located near the site of one of Russia's seven major chemical weapons arsenals, will help accelerate an ambitious effort to fully eliminate the stockpiles in less than four years.
The plant near Leonidovka in the Penza Oblast holds 7,600 tons (6,885 metric tons) of VX, sarin, and soman nerve agents, about 17 percent of Russia's declared chemical weapons stockpile, according to Global Green USA, the Washington-based affiliate of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's Green Cross International environmental organization. Learn More
Spring Valley Weapons Search to Continue
WASHINGTON POST. May 30, 2008.
The cleanup of World War I chemical weapons buried under the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest Washington could last three more years, as crews search for more shells and remove tainted soil, officials said yesterday.
The Spring Valley cleanup began in 1993, after a construction crew uncovered buried shells from a former testing ground for chemical weapons near American University.
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Publications
Abolishing Chemical Weapons Globally: Successes and Challenges - An NGO Perspective
This is an article by Dr. Paul F Walker, Security and Sustainability Program Director at Global Green USA. It was published in the September issue of the Chemical Disarmament Quarterly, a publication by the Organization for theProhibition of Chemical Weapons. The article, from an NGO perspective, highlights the important successes over the past decade as well as the challenges facing the OPCW for completing its primary goals of global elimination of chemical weapons.
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Evolving Nuclear Realities and US-Russian Relations
This is a summary of the second Nuclear National DIalogue organized by Global Green USA/ Green Cross in April 2008 in St. Petersburg Russia. The event was organized in partnership with the Stanely Foundation who provided this summary of the conference. Proceedings of this unique event have been published in Russian and will soon be avaliable in English in December 2008, in both hard copy and electronic versions.
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