Tony Thurmond: “I would just like to make some general comments about the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, otherwise known as…”

“I would just like to make some general comments about the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, otherwise known as Nunn-Lugar. To date, close to $1.6 billion has been authorized or appropriated for this program. Out of this amount, less than half of the funds have been obligated. Earlier this year, the Department of Defense told the committee that they expected to obligate around $860 million of the previous year's funding by the end of the fiscal year. The committee has been supportive of this effort to help the Republics of the former Soviet Union dismantle and destroy their chemical and nuclear weapons stockpile. For various reasons, however, the Department has run into problems in managing the program, either through administrative problems on the United States side, or, as a result of not being able to conclude implementing agreements with Russia and the other Republics. I believe the program has been a useful political tool. However, I don't believe that the program has accomplished as much as the Department of Defense would lead one to believe.”