Weapons of Mass Destruction
About Legacy
The global challenge of eliminating and cleaning up Cold War weapons requires a response that is global in scope.
The Security & Sustainability Program, internationally known as the Legacy Program, is an international effort by Global Green USA, the US affiliate of Green Cross International, and Green Cross affiliates in Belarus, Canada, Germany, Italy, Russia, Switzerland and the Ukraine. Operating on the principle of “cooperation, not confrontation,” the program facilitates the complex process of demilitarization through education, outreach and dialogue across local, state and national borders.
Forums & Dialogues
To foster dialogue on weapons of mass destruction, nonproliferation, and threat reduction issues, Global Green USA and its Green Cross affiliates bring together U.S. and foreign military and government officials, experts and private citizens in a variety of formats, from high-level meetings between senior policymakers to expert seminars to public forums. Known as “Track II” or backchannel diplomacy, these initiatives complement official government channels and are essential to real progress.
Weapon Stockpiles
The global elimination of Cold War-era weapons stockpiles and the lock-down of dangerous weapons materials is an expensive, technically complex and politically challenging proposition, with implications for security, public health and the environment. The stakes are high, and failure is not an option.
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Legacy News
Global Green USA Hosts OPCW Director-General Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter in Washington DC
Washington, DC – June 19 – For the third consecutive year, Global Green USA was pleased to host Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the implementing agency for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in The Hague, in Washington DC for a series of high-level meetings and presentations. Ambassador Pfirter holds the title of Career Diplomat from Argentina, and prior to his appointment as Director-General in 2002, he served as Director of Nuclear and Security Affairs for the Argentine Foreign Service, Under-Secretary for Foreign Policy, and Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
During his visit, Ambassador Pfirter met with Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana), ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and co-founder of the “Nunn-Lugar” Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program for eliminating weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere; with Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-California), chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee who has been nominated as Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs; with the senior staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chaired by Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts); with the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs chaired by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont); and other key congressional officials. Successful, high-level meetings also took place at the White House, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense with discussions focused on U.S. support for the CWC and the OPCW, nonproliferation policies, and chemical weapons destruction progress in the U.S., Russia, and elsewhere. During his stay in Washington, D.C., Ambassador Pfirter spoke at both the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, both events co-hosted by Global Green USA.
Shchuch’ye Chemical Weapons Destruction Facility Opening
On May 29, 2009 the Russian Federation formally opened its new chemical weapons destruction (CWD) 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 stockpile holds almost two million artillery shells and some 1,000 missile warheads, all loaded with nerve agents. Just one of these shells, appropriately detonated in a populated area, could kill thousands of people in a matter of minutes.
Green Cross Russia, an international partner of Global Green USA, participated in the formal opening. For over 12 years Green Cross Russia, together with Global Green USA and Green Cross Switzerland, has been managing public outreach activities and facilitating the safe and timely elimination of weapons in all areas where Russian CWD facilities are located, including the Shchuch’ye facility.
Senator Richard Lugar joined Russian officials, G-8 representatives and OPCW Director-General Rogelio Pfirter at the opening ceremony and said the facility is a testament to U.S.-Russian “cooperation and our shared dedication to addressing the threats posed by weapons of mass destruction.” Learn More
Disarmament lessons from the Chemical Weapons Convention
BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS. JUNE 16, 2009.
The recent joint declaration by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to negotiate a new treaty reducing their countries' nuclear stockpiles as a first step toward "a nuclear-weapon-free world" has spurred hopes for renewed progress in global disarmament after a decade of gridlock. An excellent example of how nations can work together effectively within a multilateral framework to eliminate weapons of mass destruction is the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
The convention is unique in the sphere of disarmament and nonproliferation--an international treaty that abolishes an entire class of weapons of mass destruction under a stringent regime of inspections to verify compliance. Since its entry into force in April 1997, the convention has attracted 188 States Parties representing 98 percent of the world's population and chemical industries, the fastest rate of accession for any arms control treaty in history.
In this time, 43 percent of the chemical weapons declared by seven "possessor" states have been verifiably destroyed, and three of these states have eliminated their stockpiles altogether. At the current pace, the global figure will more than double to at least 90 percent by 2012. In addition, all of the facilities that produced these deadly weapons have now been dismantled or converted to peaceful uses.
Parallel to these historic disarmament measures, a regime of industrial inspections has been established under the convention to ensure that new chemical weapons do not emerge and to prevent the illicit spread of toxic chemicals that could be used for weapons. The global chemical industry has been a valuable partner in these efforts by actively promoting adherence to the convention and helping to sustain the effectiveness of the industrial inspections, which have been conducted in more than 80 countries to date. Learn More
In Siberia, the Death Knell of a Complex Holding a Deadly Stockpile
MOSCOW — Soon after the Soviet Union’s collapse, an American inspection team arrived at a decrepit storage complex in Siberia. The front gate was guarded by a scrawny teenage soldier who had not been paid in months. Giant sheds seemed to hold little of value. Why else would their doors be secured only with rusty bicycle locks?
The reality was far more disturbing: the sheds contained two million artillery shells and warheads filled with nerve agents, extremely deadly substances, row after row, stacked like cordwood. Many were portable, and a single one detonated in a stadium or other crowded area could kill tens of thousands of people.
Today, the site has been transformed. The inspection in 1994 was a catalyst for a far-reaching American plan to destroy those chemical weapons, culminating in the formal opening scheduled for Friday of a facility nearby to carry out the work.
The new facility, built with $1 billion in American aid, represents a milestone in a longstanding partnership between the United States and Russia to safeguard and in many cases liquidate enormous quantities of chemical, nuclear and biological weapons manufactured by the Soviet Union.
The opening of the facility underscores how the United States and Russia have been able to hew to certain arms agreements even as overall relations soured during the Bush administration.
“This is one of the most historic steps forward ever in nonproliferation,” said Paul F. Walker, who took part in the 1994 inspection as a Congressional aide and is now a senior official at Global Green USA, an affiliate of an environmental organization begun by Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader.
“One of the most dangerous chemical weapons arsenals in the world is finally getting demilitarized,” Mr. Walker said. “And it’s been a long, long time.”
As the early inspection of Shchuchye demonstrated, Russia’s economic and political disarray in the early 1990s had severe consequences for its military infrastructure. American officials became alarmed that unconventional weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists.
In 1991, two senators, Sam Nunn, Democrat of Georgia, and Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, proposed a program to help the countries of the former Soviet Union secure and destroy those weapons.
However rocky, the relative success of the Nunn-Lugar program has been cited by some Obama administration officials as offering hope for negotiations on future treaties. Russian and American officials are now engaged in talks on a new version of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or Start, which expires in December. Learn More
Washington DC City Council Hearing on Chemical Weapons
Global Green USA testified before the Washington D.C. City Council on May 11, 2009 regarding the cleanup of dumped chemical weapons in Northwest Washington, an area known as “Spring Valley.” Ward 3 Council Member Mary Cheh, Chairperson of the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment, questioned fourteen witnesses on public health and environmental impacts from the post-World War I burial of chemical weapons, agents, and other toxic materials in the 661-acre area in Northwest Washington.
The cleanup, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the D.C. Department of the Environment, has been ongoing since 1993 when a chemical weapons burial site was discovered in a private backyard. The toxic dump site, which was not public knowledge until 1993, resulted from the shutdown after World War I of the American University Experimental Station which developed chemical weapons and agents.
Dr. Paul Walker, Director of the Security and Sustainability Program of Global Green USA, testified that the lessons learned from this high-toxic waste and weapons dump site “…will provide a model for all future such burial sites, of which there are hundreds in the U.S. alone. It is therefore important that the Spring Valley cleanup be done correctly and thoroughly; it not, mistakes could reverberate throughout future efforts.” Learn More
Weapons of Mass Destruction and Public Health
Global Green USA organized a plenary session at the 12th World Congress on Public Health in Istanbul, Turkey on April 28, 2009 on “Weapons of Mass Destruction and Public Health.” Chaired by Dr. Paul Walker, Director of the Security and Sustainability Program at Global Green USA, the session was introduced by Dr. Hikmet Pekcan, President of the Turkish Public Health Association which hosted the meeting of some 2,400 health officials from 142 countries. The plenary speakers were Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague; Ambassador Tibor Toth, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna; and Richard Lennane, Head of the Implementation Support Unit of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) in Geneva.
Hikmet Pekcan introduced the plenary by noting that “[w]eapons of mass destruction – weapons with massive and unpredictable killing potential which attack both civilian and military targets alike – have burdened our world for centuries…So I am most pleased to be able to include discussion of the dangers and risks involved with nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons in our World Congress here in Istanbul, and to hear what these three representatives recommend for the control and eventual elimination of these dangerous weapons. I would also like to thank Global Green USA and Green Cross International for organizing such an important plenary…A healthy world is a world which is not threatened by massive and sudden casualties and deaths. A healthy world is therefore one without weapons of mass destruction…” Learn More
Getting chemical weapons destruction back on track
BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS. APRIL 15, 2009. By Jonathan B. Tucker & Paul F. Walker
Article Highlights
- If they continue at their current pace, chemical weapon destruction efforts will miss the extended 2017 deadline; the earliest all chemical agents will be destroyed is 2023.
- The U.S. Army should drop proposals to ship some agents and wastes across state lines to existing destruction and processing facilities.
- U.S. officials should also ensure prompt payment of U.S. dues to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
One of the many arms-control challenges facing the Obama administration is to revitalize the sagging effort to destroy the vast U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons left over from the Cold War. A new U.S. Army report, to be released in May along with the Pentagon's 2010 budget request, will likely conclude that without additional funding, the elimination of these obsolete and dangerous weapons could drag on for another 15 years.
U.S. efforts to dispose of its chemical weapons stockpile have been under way for more than two decades, yet as of April 2009 some 12,600 tons (40 percent) of the original 31,500 tons of blister and nerve agents remain to be destroyed and the program continues to lag far behind schedule. President Obama and Congress should act promptly to reverse the additional delays proposed by the Defense Department, which are undermining the credibility of U.S. support for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and other international arms control agreements. Slowing the destruction process further would also increase the risks to nearby communities from leaking chemical weapons and possible terrorist attacks on the stockpile. Learn More
Mikhail Gorbachev meets with US Senator Richard Lugar to Discuss Elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction
March 19, 2009. The founder of Green Cross International, Mikhail Gorbachev, met on Thursday, March 19, 2009 in Washington DC with the ranking Republican Senator of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, of Indiana.
President Gorbachev encouraged Senator Lugar and his Senate colleagues to continue supporting the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and related bilateral and multilateral nonproliferation efforts, and underlined the importance for the CTR Program to continue supporting chemical weapons destruction in Russia. The Security and Sustainability Program of Global Green USA and Green Cross has helped facilitate the safe destruction of over 12,000 tons of chemical weapons in Russia today, and manages public outreach and information offices at many of the Russian chemical weapons sites. Learn More
Cooperative Threat Reduction Programs Should Be Upgraded
March 6, 2009: Global Green is cited in a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council. The report discusses the need to reformulate U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction programs to focus on combating international terrorism and other current threats. Learn More
New Russian Chemical Weapons Site Begins Operations
Global Security Newswire. Friday, March 6, 2009.
Russia has begun to operate a U.S.-backed chemical weapons disposal facility near the Ural Mountains, the environmental organization Global Green USA announced yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 3, 2008).
The U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction provided roughly half the funding for construction of the Shchuchye plant in the Kurgan Oblast. The site stores about 5,400 metric tons of various nerve agents contained within nearly 2 million artillery shells and 1,000 missile warheads.
Operations and system testing using nerve agent began yesterday at one primary destruction building, while the other plant is not expected to open for at least one year, according to Global Green. When fully operational, the site should be able to eliminate 1,600 tons of nerve agent each year.
“The initial opening of the Shchuchye facility in Russia to eliminate some 5,400 tons of deadly nerve agents is a major milestone in Russia’s program to safely destroy its 40,000 tons of chemical weapons," Paul Walker, security and sustainability chief at Global Green, said in a press release. "It will be extremely important that the U.S. remain involved in oversight and technical support for this major threat reduction and nonproliferation effort in order to make sure it moves forward safely, securely, and efficiently. We have to be 100 percent certain that no accidents or incidents happen to derail this expensive and dangerous process, and we do not want these man-portable weapons to wind up in the wrong hands.” Learn More
U.S. Boosts Funding for Last Two CW Disposal Sites
Global Security Newswire. Nov 6, 2008. By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department has received its highest-ever budget for preparing two chemical weapons disposal sites that hold the key to meeting the congressional demand to eliminate the entire U.S. stockpile by 2017.
The $427.5 million provided to the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program for fiscal 2009 is a step in the right direction toward providing the money that will be needed to meet the deadline, one longtime observer said.
Paul Walker, security and sustainability program head for Global Green USA, estimated that the Army’s side of chemical weapons elimination is more likely to be finished in 2013 to 2014. Learn More
South Korea Completes Destruction of Its Chemical Weapons Stockpile
Environmental News Service. October 17, 2008.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - In a step towards the global elimination of chemical weapons, South Korea has become the second country to destroy its declared chemical weapons stockpile. The country beat its December 31, 2008 deadline by at least three months.
The accomplishment, which took place since June, has not been announced publicly because South Korea has requested full confidentiality under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty that requires the destruction of all chemical weapons stockpiles worldwide.
Dr. Paul Walker, director of Global Green USA's Security and Sustainability Program, has been following this issue.
"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," he said today.
"South Korea deserves our sincere congratulations in destroying its entire chemical weapons arsenal and making the Korean Peninsula a more stable and peaceful region," said Walker. Learn More
Abolishing Chemical Weapons Globally: Successes and Challenges - An NGO Perspective
OPCW. September 24, 2008. By: Dr Paul F. Walker, Legacy Program Director, Global Green USA
The successful, verified elimination of some 40% of the six declared chemical weapons stockpiles in the first 11 years of the Chemical Weapons Convention represents a major achievement for the treaty regime and its implementing body, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The primary goal of the Convention – the total elimination of existing chemical weapons stockpiles – is well on the way to being met in the foreseeable future. Learn More
What I've Learned: Mikhail Gorbachev
ESQUIRE. Sept 10, 2008. By Cal Fussman
That Louis Vuitton ad? The proceeds go to Green Cross International and its American counterpart, Global Green. Also, I travel a lot, and a good bag comes in handy.
Look at what happened in New Orleans. Look at how big the blow was and how difficult the consequences are in dealing with such a blow. Imagine what would happen in a situation where nuclear weapons were used. Imagine the effect of the radiation. It's been years since the Chernobyl accident, and there are towns and villages where people do not live. The towns are still there. They haven't been torn down, but not a single person lives there. So this is a very serious matter--more than serious. Learn More
Hopeful Gorbachev receives Liberty Medal
Philadelphia Daily News, Sept. 19, 2008. By Stephanie Farr
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev accepted the 2008 Liberty Medal last night at the National Constitution Center after delivering a sharp rebuttal to remarks made earlier in the day by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Gorbachev was honored with the 20th Liberty Medal for his role in ending the Cold War and bringing "glasnost," or political openness, to the former Soviet Union.
"He knew it was up to him to lead this revolution," Mayor Nutter said. Learn More
Russia opens 4th chemical weapons destruction plant
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE. June 17, 2008.
Russia opened a fourth plant Tuesday to destroy its chemical weapons stockpiles, which are the largest in the world.
The destruction facility, located near the site of one of Russia's seven major chemical weapons arsenals, will help accelerate an ambitious effort to fully eliminate the stockpiles in less than four years.
The plant near Leonidovka in the Penza Oblast holds 7,600 tons (6,885 metric tons) of VX, sarin, and soman nerve agents, about 17 percent of Russia's declared chemical weapons stockpile, according to Global Green USA, the Washington-based affiliate of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's Green Cross International environmental organization. Learn More
Spring Valley Weapons Search to Continue
WASHINGTON POST. May 30, 2008.
The cleanup of World War I chemical weapons buried under the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest Washington could last three more years, as crews search for more shells and remove tainted soil, officials said yesterday.
The Spring Valley cleanup began in 1993, after a construction crew uncovered buried shells from a former testing ground for chemical weapons near American University.
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Publications
10th Russian National Dialogue on Chemical Weapons Destruction
The presentations included in this volume are from a two-day “forum-dialogue” organized by three national affiliates of Green Cross International – Green Cross Russia, Global Green USA, and Green Cross Switzerland. This meeting took place in Moscow, Russia on October 28-29, 2008, and was the Tenth annual National Dialogue on Chemical Weapons Nonproliferation and Destruction organized by Green Cross and Global Green USA as part of the international Legacy of the Cold War Program.
The presentations included cover a wide variety of related and important issues, including costs and schedules of destruction; financial support by Russia, the US, and other G-8 Global Partners; public health and environmental monitoring; state and regional regulations and permits; and citizen concerns. While not all-inclusive, this annual forum-dialogue is the one place where a reader can obtain a comprehensive overview of the many challenges involved in abolishing chemical weapons.
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2009 National Security and Nonproliferation Briefing Book
Ploughshares Fund's Peace and Security Initiative has just released its 2009 National Security and Non-Proliferation Briefing Book. This resource offers President-elect Obama and his administration expertise and advice from some of the best minds -- including 22 Ploughshares Fund grantees, former government officials and other experts -- on the most important and pressing proliferation and national security challenges they will face upon taking office. Issues covered range from "Moving To A World Free of Nuclear Weapons" to "The Iraq War" and "U.S. Homeland Security. Dr. Paul Walker, Security and Sustainability Program Director at Global Green USA, contributed to two chapters on US-Russian Relations (page 45) and Chemical and Biological Weapons (page 77).
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