Testimony: Statement of David K. Steensma Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Auditing Office of the Inspector General Department of Defense to the House Committee on Armed Services on U.S.-Russian Cooperative Threat Reduction and Non-Proliferation Programs

Abstract : This report concerns our reviews of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Although progress is being made in destroying weapons of mass destruction, there is a need for additional management oversight of the country to country agreements, and more cooperative sharing of program risks. Congress enacted Public law l02-228, the Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act of 1991, to reduce the threat posed by the weapons of mass destruction remaining in the territory of the former Soviet Union. Objectives of the Act are to "destroy nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and other weapons; transport, store, disable, and safeguard weapons in connection with their destruction; and establish verifiable safeguards against the proliferation of such weapons." The Act designated DoD as the executive agent for what came to be called the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program.