Weapons of Mass Destruction
FBI representative speaks about joint law enforcement and public health response to bioterrorism
Washington, D.C. – July 15, 2010 – On Wednesday afternoon, July 14, 2010, Global Green USA's Security and Sustainability Program organized a discussion entitled "Joint Law Enforcement and Public Health Response to Bioterrorism.” Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Kristine A. Beardsley from the Bioterrorism Prevention Program in the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Directorate spoke about her program which coordinates the development of countermeasures, tripwire initiatives, and response policies that aim to prevent, detect, or assist in the response to a bioterrorism incident or event.
Global Green USA Congratulates US for Chemical Weapons Destruction Milestone
Calls 75% Achievement a Major Step Towards Global Nonproliferation
Washington DC – July 6, 2010 – The US Department of Defense today announced that it had met another major milestone – 75% destruction – in the two-decade-long effort to safely eliminate its chemical weapons stockpile, a still dangerous legacy of the Cold War.
Global Green USA Applauds Russian Announcement of 3-Year Delay in Destroying Chemical Weapons
Washington DC – June 29, 2010 – The Russian Federation, the largest declared chemical weapons (CW) possessor state with 40,000 metric tons of deadly chemicals in seven large stockpiles, has indicated that it will not be able to meet the legally binding destruction deadline – April 29, 2012 – under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The announcement was made today by Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, the Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), in The Hague at the opening of the 61st OPCW Executive Council meeting. The OPCW is the multinational organization with 188 States Parties which oversees the inspection and verification of chemical weapons demilitarization and the nonproliferation of banned chemical agents globally.
Global Green USA Attends BioShield 2010 Tabletop Exercise in Tbilisi, Georgia
Washington, D.C. - May 12, 2010 - The Southern Caucasus Workshop on Public Health, Security, and Law Enforcement Partnership in Bio-Incident Pre-Planning and Response and the associated Southern Caucasus BioShield 2010 Tabletop Exercise were held in Tbilisi, Georgia, 11-12 May 2010. These events were a joint effort of the US Department of Defense (DOD), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA); US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (HHS/ASPR); and Georgia’s Ministry of Public Health, National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC).
Global Green USA Releases Study on the U.S. Military and Climate Change
Calls for US Military to Reduce Carbon Emissions
The Security and Sustainability Program of Global Green USA today released a preliminary analysis of the impact of the U.S. Department of Defense on climate change. Entitled “Department of Defense Sustainability,” the study illustrates how very important energy has become as a determinant of national and international security, and also how large an environmental impact the U.S. military has with its widespread use of fossil fuels.
Mikhail Gorbachev to Speak on “Resetting the Nuclear Disarmament Agenda”
Gorbachev continues to support Global Green USA’s ongoing mission to eliminate weapons of mass destruction
Washington DC, October 5, 2009 - Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will deliver a lecture at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, October 5, 2009, on global nuclear disarmament. This lecture will follow President Gorbachev’s recent op-ed in the New York Times (September 25, 2009) in which he supported US President Barack Obama’s call for a nuclear weapons-free world and his recent cancellation of missile defense in Europe. Gorbachev wrote: “Indeed, if [President Obama’s] decision is followed by further serious steps, it will provide an opportunity for us to strengthen global security as well as reach a new level of cooperation in ridding the world of nuclear danger.”
Mustard Gas Unearthed in Spring Valley, Washington DC
Washington DC - August 12, 2009 – The US Army Corps of Engineers announced today that a flask with mustard agent has been discovered this month in northwest Washington DC, an area called Spring Valley, where chemical agents were dumped and buried after World War I. Global Green USA, the US national affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, which has been closely following the 16-year-old cleanup of the Spring Valley neighborhood, commented that this latest discovery was further proof that there needs to be more work done in the area to guarantee the safety and public health of Washington residents.
Global Green USA Congratulates India for Completing its Chemical Weapons Destruction Program and Iraq for Declaring “Legacy Weapons”
April 27, 2009 - Washington DC – Global Green USA, the U.S. national affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, congratulated India today for completing the elimination of its large stockpile of mustard agent weapons. Announced today by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, the international implementing body for the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), India’s successful weapons demilitarization program is the third of seven declared national CW arsenals to be fully destroyed. The first two countries to eliminate their CW stockpiles were Albania which finished its destruction program in 2007, and South Korea which completed its program last year.
Global Green USA Urges Congress to Fully Fund International Arms Control Regimes
April 22, 2009 - Washington, D.C. - In a letter addressed to congressional leaders, including chairmen of the Foreign Affairs and Appropriation Committees in the House and Senate, five arms control organizations urged the Congress this week to add at least $50-100 million to the current fiscal year 2009 supplemental budget request to help fund past and current annual assessments to international organizations.
Global Green USA Welcomes the Accession of the Dominican Republic to the International Chemical Weapons Convention
Washington DC – April 1, 2009 – The United Nations implementing body for the 1997 international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, announced today that the Dominican Republic has just acceded to the treaty regime and become the 187th State Party. Global Green USA, the US national affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, which has worked closely with US, Russian, and international authorities for over fifteen years to help eliminate chemical weapons globally, welcomes this major step forward in the Convention’s expansion and congratulates the Dominican Republic for its entry into the global disarmament regime.
Global Green USA Welcomes Opening of Major US-Supported Chemical Weapons Destruction Facility in Russia
Washington DC – March 5, 2009 – Global Green USA welcomes the opening today by the Russian Federation of its new chemical weapons (CW) destruction facility in the Kurgan Oblast, just north of Kazakhstan and just east of the Ural Mountain Range. Located near the Trans-Ural village of Shchuch’ye (pronounced “shoo-che”), the chemical weapons stockpile which will be neutralized and destroyed over the next several years is one of seven CW stockpiles declared by Russia under auspices of the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The Shchuch’ye construction project has been the largest in the history of the US Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR or “Nunn-Lugar”) Program and US funding represents approximately 50% of total project costs.
GLOBAL GREEN USA WELCOMES IRAQ ACCESSION TO CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION
Washington, DC – January 14, 2009 – The United Nations implementing body for the 1997 international Chemical Weapons Convention, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, announced today that Iraq has just acceded to the treaty regime and become the 186th State Party. Global Green USA, the US national affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, which has worked closely with US, Russian, and international authorities for over fifteen years to help eliminate chemical weapons globally, welcomes this historic moment in the Convention’s expansion and congratulates Iraq for its entry into the global disarmament regime.
GLOBAL GREEN USA CONGRATULATES SOUTH KOREA FOR ABOLISHING CHEMICAL WEAPONS
Washington, DC - Oct 17, 2008 - In an unannounced step forward in global elimination of chemical weapons, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) has recently become the second country to complete the destruction of its declared chemical weapons stockpile. Dr. Paul Walker, Director of Global Green USA’s Security and Sustainability Program, stated that “the elimination of several thousand tons of deadly nerve agents in South Korea marks a major historic initiative in global abolition of chemical weapons, in implementation of the international Chemical Weapons Convention, and in demilitarizing the Korean Peninsula. South Korea deserves our sincere congratulations in destroying its entire chemical weapons arsenal and making the Korean Peninsula a more stable and peaceful region.”
GLOBAL GREEN USA APPLAUDS ELIMINATION OF VX STOCKPILE IN INDIANA
August 11, Washington, DC - Global Green USA, the US national environmental affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev's Green Cross International, today applauded the work of the Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) of the US Department of Defense, which announced the neutralization of the final container of deadly VX nerve agent at Newport, Indiana.
RUSSIA TAKES ANOTHER STEP FORWARD IN WMD THREAT REDUCTION
Washington, DC - June 12, 2008 - Global Green USA, the U.S. affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, welcomes the official opening of Russia’s fourth major facility for the destruction of its chemical weapons arsenal and urges safety and transparency as destruction gets underway. The facility, located near Leonidovka in the Penza Oblast (350 miles SE of Moscow), holds 6,885 metric tons of VX, sarin, and soman nerve agents, about 17% of Russia’s declared chemical weapons stockpile.
GREEN CROSS CALLS FOR RENEWED COMMITMENT TO ABOLISH CHEMICAL WEAPONS GLOBALLY
Washington, DC - May 18, 2008 - The international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force in 1997, just celebrated its eleventh anniversary in The Hague where its implementing agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) hosted the second Five-Year Review Conference. The CWC has now been signed by 183 countries and has verified the safe and sound destruction of over 27,500 metric tons of deadly chemical weapons in five declared possessor states.
Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, Director of Chemical Weapons Convention to Speak on Capitol Hill
Washington DC. - April 1 2008 - Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, the Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, will speak on Wednesday, April 2, 2008, at 11 AM in the US House of Representatives (1116 Longworth HOB) on the status of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which mandates the elimination of over 70,000 tons of deadly chemical agents in six declared possessor states.
GLOBAL GREEN USA AND GREEN CROSS PARTNERS ANNOUNCE OPENING OF FIRST PUBLIC OUTREACH AND INFORMATION OFFICE AT NUCLEAR WEAPONS SITE IN RUSSIA
WASHINGTON, DC, MOSCOW, ZURICH, February 8, 2007: Global Green USA's Legacy Program announces the opening to the public of the first ever Green Cross Public Outreach and Information Office (POIO) at a nuclear weapons dismantlement site in the Russian Federation in the city of Severodvinsk.
GLOBAL GREEN USA AND ITS PARTNERS ORGANIZE ROUNDTABLE ON DEVELOPING A COMPREHENSIVE BIOSECURITY REGIME
WASHINGTON, DC- October 15, 2006 – Green Cross International, and three of its national affiliates, Green Cross Switzerland, Green Cross Russia, and Global Green USA, will host an all-day roundtable discussion on “Developing a Comprehensive Biosecurity Regime.”
GLOBAL GREEN USA AND ITS PARTNERS ORGANIZE ROUNDTABLE ON ITALY'S ROLE IN THE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP AND NONPROLIFERATION OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION IN RUSSIA AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
WASHINGTON, DC - October 12, 2006 – Green Cross International, and its affiliates, Green Cross Italy, Green Cross Switzerland, Green Cross Russia, and Global Green USA, in collaboration with the Monterey Institute Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the International Affairs Institute, will host a roundtable discussion on “Current Global Partnership Initiatives and Italian Programs: Submarine Dismantlement, Chemical Weapons Destruction, and Plutonium Disposition in Russia.”
GLOBAL GREEN USA WELCOMES START-UP OF NEW RUSSIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS DESTRUCTION FACILITY, URGES SAFETY AND TRANSPARENCY
WASHINGTON, DC- September 7, 2006 – Global Green USA, the U.S. affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, welcomes the official opening of the Russian Federal Agency for Industry’s third major facility for the destruction of its chemical weapons arsenal and urges safety and transparency as destruction gets underway. The facility, located near Maradikovsky in the Kirov Oblast (300 miles NE of Moscow), is the first to destroy nerve agents.
Green Cross International Organizes First “Nuclear National Dialogue” in Moscow
For two days, July 3 and 4, 2006, a first-of-its-kind “Nuclear National Dialogue” will take place in Moscow. Organized by the non-governmental, environmental organization, Green Cross International (through three of its national affiliates – Green Cross Russia, Green Cross Switzerland, and Global Green USA) and by the Russian federal Department of Energy, RosAtom, the conference will bring together over one hundred nuclear energy and nonproliferation experts from over a dozen nations to publicly address major issues of safety, security, threat reduction, and the G-8 Global Partnership.
RUSSIA TAKES MAJOR STEP FORWARD IN WMD THREAT REDUCTION
February 28, Washington, DC – Global Green USA, the U.S. affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, welcomes the official opening of the Russian Federal Agency for Industry’s second major facility for the destruction of its chemical weapons arsenal and urges safety and transparency as destruction gets underway. The facility, located in Kambarka, Udmurt Republic, was built with assistance from several countries, including Germany. The official opening of the facility is scheduled for March 1, 2006.
