March 17, 2014

SHAHEEN INTRODUCES BILL TO BOLSTER THREAT REDUCTION EFFORTS

By ExchangeMonitor

With the U.S. and Russia still negotiating a new Cooperative Threat Reduction umbrella agreement, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) yesterday introduced a bill aimed at bolstering threat reduction efforts in the Middle East and North Africa. Modeled after the landmark Nunn-Lugar CTR program, Shaheen’s “Next Generation Cooperative Threat Reduction Act of 2013” would authorize $30 million a year from Fiscal Year 2014 to FY 2019 to create a “multi-year regional assistance strategy” that would synchronize threat reduction and nonproliferation activities in the Middle East and North Africa as well as create new initiatives to address the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in the area. Export and border control rules would be tightened under the bill, and training for threat reduction officials would be increased, as would engagement and professional networking with civil society in certain countries.

The existing CTR program already performs work in the Middle East and North Africa—Pentagon official Andrew Weber noted last week that there was work going on in Jordan and other countries—but Shaheen’s bill would expand U.S. efforts in areas that she suggested were the most ripe for nuclear and WMD terrorism. “Nuclear proliferation is one of the gravest dangers we face as an international community. It is imperative that we provide the necessary focus, time and resources to meet this threat,” Shaheen said in a statement. “We need to remain vigilant, to think ahead, and to anticipate where the next threats will come from.”

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