CRS On CTR

The Congressional Research Service recently issued a report on the history of U.S. cooperative threat reduction efforts.

The June 13 report, originally obtained by Secrecy News, states:

This report summarizes cooperative activities conducted during the full 20 years of U.S. threat reduction and nonproliferation assistance. Many older programs have concluded their work, while more recent programs continue to expand their scope and their geographic reach.

CRS notes that the Defense, State, Energy and Homeland Security departments together "sought nearly $1.65 billion" for CTR programs in fiscal year 2014.

Inside Missile Defense reported last month on the Senate Armed Services Committee's FY-15 defense policy bill:

On nonproliferation programs, the senators' bill "addresses the threats from nuclear weapons and materials by strengthening nonproliferation programs, maintaining a credible nuclear deterrent, reducing the size of the nuclear weapons stockpile, and ensuring the safety, security and reliability of the stockpile, the delivery systems, and the nuclear infrastructure."

The proposed legislation would authorize the Pentagon's $365 million request for the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, and recommends a $145 million plus-up to the mixed oxide fuel program "to continue construction of the mixed oxide fuel facility which would increase from $201 million to $346 million," according to the summary.

The National Nuclear Security Administration would get a $140 million increase for other nuclear nonproliferation programs to "support deployment of additional mobile and border radiation detector systems in the Middle East and former Soviet states; provide additional resources to collect overseas highly enriched uranium to return to the U.S.; and collect additional radiation sources in the U.S. and around the world, which can pose a 'dirty bomb' threat," the summary reads.