2/6/12 Home / Projects & Publications / News www PGS Printer Friendly Page   NEWS RELEASE Experts Urge Bush and Putin to Commit to New Nonproliferation Partnership FOR RELEASE: November 7, 2001; CONTACT: Ken Luongo, (202) 332-1412; Matthew Bunn, (617) 495-9916; or Frank von Hippel (609) 258-4695 (Washington, DC) - Members of the Russian-American Nuclear Security Advisory Council (RANSAC), a leading think-tank dedicated to strengthening U.S.-Russian nuclear nonproliferation engagement, today urged President Bush and President Putin during their upcoming summit meeting to create a new partnership to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The RANSAC experts declared that both countries must "do everything possible to keep weapons of mass destruction and associated materials and technologies out of the hands of hostile states or entities." They stated that "this will require that political mechanisms be established to break bureaucratic logjams, and that sufficient funds be committed immediately to eliminate the vulnerabilities that exist in Russia and America." The RANSAC members voiced their concerns in a letter to the Presidents, recommending that the subject of expanding U.S.-Russian cooperative nuclear security efforts be a high priority item during next week's summit meeting in Washington, DC and Crawford, TX. Noting that there has not been sufficient high-level political attention paid by the White House or the Kremlin in recent years to the challenges of securing WMD - a situation that has allowed low-level disagreements and bureaucratic disputes to inhibit progress, and that has led to delays and under-funding for a number of cooperative security programs - RANSAC's leading recommendation is that the Presidents agree to establish a "U.S.-Russian Special Presidential Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction Security." The commission should, among other things, develop recommendations for the Presidents on how to improve implementation of existing cooperative nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons security work, and provide proposals for new initiatives in these areas. The commission should also provide a strategic plan for securing all WMD weapons, materials, and relevant expertise and technologies, and disposing of excess weapons and materials, as rapidly as practicable. A copy of the letter follows this release. The Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory Council (RANSAC) consists of Russian and American experts who have been involved closely in U.S.-Russian cooperative nuclear security programs for the past decade.

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