Summary

Since 1992, the Defense Department's cooperative threat reduction program has sought to help the four newly independent states of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine control and reduce threats posed by weapons of mass destruction inherited from the former Soviet Union. This report evaluates (1) the draft 1996 multiyear cooperative threat reduction program in terms of its scope, depiction of project status and cost estimates, description of changes that occurred after the 1995 multiyear program plan, and release to Congress and (2) the progress, estimated costs, and potential impacts of the program's efforts to help control nuclear weapons and materials, eliminate strategic delivery vehicles, and destroy chemical weapons.

GAO found that: (1) the draft 1996 CTR multiyear plan does not adequately reflect budgetary uncertainties associated with some projects and cost estimates or important developments that have occurred since 1995; (2) although the CTR program has made progress in helping Russia dismantle and store its nuclear weapons arsenal, DOD has not yet resolved important issues concerning planned Russian nuclear weapons storage and chemical weapons destruction facility projects; (3) the estimated costs for the chemical weapons facility are unknown; (4) the United States has capped its support for the nuclear weapons storage facility that is now under construction, but CTR officials do not plan to cap support for the chemical weapons destruction facility; (5) funding decisions for the chemical weapons destruction facility are compounded by the facility's potential high cost and questions on whether the facility will be effective at reducing the overall Russian chemical weapons threat; (6) DOD officials consider the threat from chemical weapons to be less urgent than the Russian nuclear threat; (7) Russia may not be able to meet the terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention unless six more facilities are constructed and other nations resume their funding commitments; (8) CTR officials lack the data needed to independently determine the extent and effect of Russia's controls over nuclear materials; (9) DOD has allocated or requested almost $1.5 billion for chemical weapon destruction, nuclear security, and delivery vehicle destruction projects through 1997; and (10) CTR program costs through 2001 are estimated to be $3.2 billion.