Defense Environment Alert
January 28, 2003

PRESIDENT BUSH'S WAIVER OF CTR FUND RESTRICTIONS APPLAUDED

Environmentalists and the Russian government are hailing President Bush's decision to sign a waiver that frees up U.S. appropriations for the demilitarization of chemical weapons in Russia, which had long been suspended due to congressional stipulations that show Russia has met certain arms control certifications. The action also freed other funds under the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, which monitors and dismantles massive Russian stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

"These programs have been paralyzed with political demands for a year or more, so the President's delinking of them from Cold War politics is a major step forward in improving our national and global security," says Paul Walker, director of Global Green USA's legacy program, in a Jan. 14 press release. Global Green advocates addressing the environmental legacy of the cold war.

Bush Jan. 10 signed the waiver to release funds for a chemical weapons destruction facility in Shchuch'ye, Russia, and other CTR projects. Congress last year passed a provision allowing the president to waive for one year several conditions that had blocked U.S. funding for the destruction facility. In particular, one of these conditions required the defense secretary to certify that Russia has provided a full and accurate accounting of its chemical weapons stockpile, but the Bush administration has been reluctant to make such a certification. "It may be difficult to assess with confidence that the information we have from Russia on its chemical weapons stockpile is full and accurate," National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice wrote Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) in a July 30, 2002, letter.

Bush also waived for three years a separate set of conditions on the overall CTR program. For both waivers, Bush made the determination that waiving the conditions was "important to the national security interests of the United States."

While the Clinton administration had regularly certified the stipulated conditions, the Bush administration "balked this past year, thus causing a crisis," Global Green says. The administration, backed by the Senate, unsuccessfully sought permanent waiver authority from Congress.

The move frees $416 million in fiscal year 2003 money for the CTR program. The FY03 money plus funds held over from FY02 earmarks amounts to $150 million for the chemical weapons disposal program in Shchuch'ye.

Walker says U.S. support for the CTR program is key to keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. "It's one of the best investments we can make in national defense. Especially in the case of chemical weapons destruction, these funds will now allow construction to begin on a destruction facility for over 30,000 tons of Russian nerve agents, potentially vulnerable to theft and diversion."

In a Jan. 16 statement, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Alexander Yakovenko also applauded Bush's decision to sign the waiver.

Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff (CA) introduced a bill earlier this month to grant the president a permanent waiver for the CTR program. "I think that with every day that goes by there's a greater awareness of the magnitude of the problem we face, so the momentum increases for expanding [CTR programs] and giving the president the authority he needs," Schiff said in a Jan. 14 interview with sister publication Inside the Pentagon.

Unless efforts by Schiff, Lugar and others prevail, Congress may again face a debate over extending waiver authority when it crafts FY06 legislation, at which time the president's overall CTR waiver authority expires, congressional sources say.

"A lot may depend on how upfront the administration is willing to be to have this waiver authority," Schiff said. "If the administration is forcefully engaged in debate, it improves our chances dramatically."

About 15 representatives from both parties already have, or soon will, sign on as co-sponsors to the bill, Schiff said. Prominent signatories from Schiff's party include Reps. John Spratt (SQ, a member of the Armed Services Committee and ranking member of the Budget Committee, Henry Waxman (CA), ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee, and Chet Edwards (TX), an Appropriations Committee member. Republican supporters include Christopher Shays (CT) and Doug Bereuter (NE).

Schiff's bill, the "Threat Reduction Implementation Act of 2003," has been referred to the House Armed Services Committee and the International Relations Committee, of which Schiff is a member.