Arms Control Today
October 2003
U.S. Chemical Weapons Program to Miss Deadline
Christine Kucia
U.S. officials informed the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW) last month that the United States will not meet a key interim
deadline set by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) to destroy nearly half
of its chemical weapons holdings. Under the CWC, the United States had agreed
to destroy 45 percent of its stockpile by April 29, 2004, but U.S. officials
are now seeking an extension to December 2007.
The new deadline means the United States, possessing the world’s second-largest
chemical weapons stockpile, will not meet the CWC’s final date of April 2007
for destroying 100 percent of the stockpile and will have to ask for another
extension in the future. The convention allows member states to request up
to a five-year extension of the final deadline.
Washington’s appeal follows on the heels of multiple requests by Russia,
which has the world’s largest arsenal of chemical weapons, to extend its deadline
for destroying the country’s 40,000-ton stockpile. Russia destroyed one percent
of its chemical weapons in April 2003, three years after the original deadline,
and is slated to have just 20 percent completed by 2007. (See ACT, June 2003.)
Washington’s request was forwarded for consideration to the OPCW Conference
of the States Parties, scheduled to convene Oct. 20-24.
The Department of Defense blames U.S. delays on “unresolved political and
operational issues that forced shutdowns or postponed start-up dates,” according
to a Sept. 3 statement. To date, the U.S. program has destroyed approximately
one-quarter of the total declared stockpile of 31,500 tons.
Greg Mahall, a spokesman for the U.S. Army’s Program Manager for Chemical
Demilitarization—the office that conducts U.S. chemical weapons destruction
activities—said the program ran into difficulties when disposal experts found
munitions and agents in worse shape than previously thought and because new
means of disposing of the chemicals were more technically challenging than
they expected. He said “earlier [time] projections were somewhat unrealistic”
and stressed that the Army wouldn’t sacrifice “safety for schedule.”
A Sept. 5 report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) concluded that
the U.S. chemical weapons program is “in turmoil” because of “long-standing
and unresolved leadership, organizational, and strategic planning issues.”
GAO investigators recommend that Pentagon and Army officials develop a strategy
and implementation plan with a mission statement, long-term objectives, and
clear roles and responsibilities for program leadership. They also suggest
adding near-term performance measures and tools that could anticipate internal
and external factors that may predict program impediments.
Meanwhile, despite longer timelines for destroying chemical weapons in Russia
and the United States, new states continue to join the CWC. The island nation
of Sao Tome and Principe in western Africa will formally join the CWC regime
on Oct. 9, and Afghanistan will become the 155th state party to the convention
on Oct. 24.
Slipped Milestones from 2001 Schedule
Site
|
Project Milestone
|
Scheduled Date to Begin
|
New Start Date
|
# Months Delayed
|
Anniston AL
|
Operations
|
July 2002
|
July 2003 (Began Aug. 9)
|
13
|
Umatilla OR
|
Operations
|
July 2003
|
December 2003
|
5
|
Pine Bluff AR
|
Operations
|
October 2003
|
April 2004
|
6
|
Johnston Atoll
|
End of Closure
|
September 2003
|
January 2004
|
4
|