AFF/THREAT REDUCTION: INHERENCY

RUSSIA CANNOT SECURE ITS OWN NUCLEAR ARSENAL

RUSSIA IS NOT NOW ABLE TO SECURE ITS NUCLEAR ARSENAL

Lloyd Cutler and Susan Eisenhower January 30, 2001 Proliferation Brief, Vol. 4, No. 01 The Greatest Unmet National Security Threat http://www.ceip.org/files/Publications/ProliferationBrief401.asp?p=8&from=pubdate //VT2002acsln

  1. The threat today arises from Russia's weakened ability to secure its nuclear arsenal. Contributing factors include, delays in paying those who guard nuclear facilities, breakdown in command structures and inadequate budgets for stockpile protection.

RUSSIA’S WMD STOCKPILES ARE DANGEROUS AND NOT SECURE

Simon Tisdall January 13, 2001 The Guardian (London) SECTION: Guardian Home Pages, Pg. 3 HEADLINE: US Military expansion: Fear of attack triggers arms build-up: Rogue states identified in attempt to boost spending //VT2002acsln

The separate inquiry led by Howard Baker has meanwhile warned that Russia's large nuclear, chemical and biological weapons stockpiles are dangerously insecure and vulnerable to theft and smuggling by terrorist groups and Russian mafia syndicates.

WHEN RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR SYSTEMS DETERIORATE IT IS OUR PROBLEM

STEVEN LEE MYERS, January 29, 2001, The New York Times SECTION: Section A; Page 14;  HEADLINE: PUBLIC LIVES; Helping Spend a Mogul's Money to Reduce Nuclear Risk //VT2002acsln

"It's not in our interest for their infrastructure to be such that they can't maintain their warning systems and can't tell the difference between a flock of geese and a ballistic missile," Mr. Nunn (former Senator) said of the Russian arsenal. "That's as much our problem as theirs."

THE WORLD IS MORE DANGEROUS NOW BECAUSE RUSSIAN WMD ARE NOT SECURE

Omaha World-Herald January 11, 2001, SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 22; HEADLINE: A Grim Notion: Loose Nukes //VT2002acsln

"The world today is more dangerous, in a sense, because various foreign nations, including Russia, face dire economic conditions that force severe cutbacks in that government's maintenance of its nuclear infrastructure, including in its warning, surveillance and control system The cumulative effect of this deterioration is that Russia has greatly increased the risk of a nuclear accident, or a dangerous and deadly miscalculation, or the prospects that a nuclear worker will compromise nuclear materials or sell know-how across borders to a terrorist group out of economic desperation." (Nunn)