Press Release of Senator Lugar Nunn-Lugar work to continue in Kazakhstan, begin in Armenia Friday, June 5, 2009 U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar announced that the agreement allowing the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program to continue dismantling and destroying weapons and materials of mass destruction in Kazakhstan will continue for another seven years.   Nunn-Lugar work in Kazakhstan continues to cover a broad spectrum of weapons of mass destruction, and thanks to the Nunn-Lugar program, Kazakhstan, formerly the fourth largest nuclear weapons power in the world, has been nuclear weapons free for more than a decade.   Notably, three biological monitoring stations have been built and equipped in Kazakhstan. The stations are intended to establish the first line of defense against infectious diseases by detecting outbreaks earlier and serving as a liaison with medical experts in the region, the WHO, and the United States.   During Lugar’s visit to Kazakhstan January 9-11, 2008, a team of American scientists working under the Nunn-Lugar program quietly entered the country to begin the careful packaging of bubonic and pneumonic plague samples in accordance with international safety standards for the transport of dangerous biological materials. The samples were safely transported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Fort Collins, Colorado, marking the successful completion of a five-year negotiation involving Lugar and Nunn-Lugar program officials to secure, transport and develop a research program for the pathogens.   Continuing its expansion and already established work with biological weapons, the Nunn-Lugar program is beginning work in Armenia. Nunn-Lugar will partner with Armenia to build necessary capacity for the country to meet International Health Regulations established by the World Health Organization. The rules require countries to report immediately certain disease outbreaks and public health events to the WHO.   ************************* In November 1991, Lugar (R-IN) and Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) authored the Nunn-Lugar Act, which established the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. This program has provided U.S. funding and expertise to help the former Soviet Union safeguard and dismantle its enormous stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, related materials, and delivery systems. In 2003, Congress adopted the Nunn-Lugar Expansion Act, which authorized the Nunn-Lugar program to operate outside the former Soviet Union to address proliferation threats. In 2004, Nunn-Lugar funds were committed for the first time outside of the former Soviet Union to destroy chemical weapons in Albania, under a Lugar-led expansion of the program. In 2007, Lugar announced the complete destruction of Albania’s chemical weapons.   The Nunn-Lugar scorecard now totals 7,514 strategic nuclear warheads deactivated, 752 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) destroyed, 498 ICBM silos eliminated, 143 ICBM mobile launchers destroyed, 643 submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) eliminated, 476 SLBM launchers eliminated, 31 nuclear submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles destroyed, 155 bomber eliminated, 906 nuclear air-to-surface missiles (ASMs) destroyed, 194 nuclear test tunnels eliminated, 438 nuclear weapons transport train shipments secured, upgraded security at 24 nuclear weapons storage sites, and built and equipped 18 biological monitoring stations. Perhaps most importantly, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus are nuclear weapons free as a result of cooperative efforts under the Nunn-Lugar program. Those countries were the third, fourth and eighth largest nuclear weapons powers in the world. On May 29, 2009, Lugar attended the official opening ceremonies for the Chemical Weapons Destruction Facility in Shchuchye, Russia. Located in Siberia, the new facility was funded by the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program. Nunn-Lugar previously secured the nearly 2 million munitions containing VX nerve agent and other chemicals weapons. The shells now will be drained and destroyed, and the deadly chemicals neutralized.   Lugar makes annual oversight trips to Nunn-Lugar sites around the world.   The Nunn-Lugar program: http://lugar.senate.gov/nunnlugar/ The Nunn-Lugar scorecard: http://lugar.senate.gov/nunnlugar/scorecard.html   ###