Restoring the U.S.-Russian nonproliferation relationship and sustaining U.S. nuclear security spending levels will be key in addressing security vulnerabilities that could open the door to acts of nuclear terrorism, according to a new report from Harvard University.
The report from the university’s Project on Managing the Atom said that despite nuclear security improvements in recent years, the phasing out of U.S.-Russian nonproliferation cooperation and budget pressures in both nations – which include two successive 10 percent federal budget cuts in Russia – could undermine the measures.
Matthew Bunn, co-author of the report and co-principal investigator of the Project on Managing the Atom, said at the global nuclear security report launch Monday that “we recommend rebuilding in a very different format cooperation between the United States and Russia on nuclear security, in an approach that is fully equal with ideas and resources from both sides, and an approach that covers topics that the United States is interested in as well as topics that Russia is interested in.” This approach would include nuclear security activities and nuclear energy research and development, he said.
“We won’t have anything that looks anything like the Nunn-Lugar [Cooperative Threat Reduction] program,” Bunn said, “but I could easily imagine, for example, re-establishing working groups in each of a number of particular areas.” These working groups could focus on strengthening security culture, protecting against insider threats, and tackling technical challenges such as the development of truly tamper-resistant seals to prevent unauthorized access to nuclear materials, he said. Bunn also recommended establishing a nuclear security working group within the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, an international partnership that conducts multilateral nuclear security activities. The U.S. and Russia co-chair this partnership, which Bunn said might encourage Moscow to re-engage in nuclear security activities.
Bunn noted that nuclear security work should move away from donor-recipient relationships. “We’re entering a new era of nuclear security cooperation that is less about the United States paying to install equipment and more about convincing other countries to do more themselves and helping them do it,” he said.
U.S. spending on nuclear security activities worldwide declined 38 percent from fiscal 2012 to fiscal 2016, from over $800 million to slightly more than $500 million, according to the report. Moreover, the Obama administration has proposed an additional 24 percent cut for its fiscal 2017 budget, to under $400 million, it said, adding that while these moves are largely attributed to the completion of major security upgrade programs and the suspension of work in Russia, “these reductions have also led to slowing and postponing of some important nuclear security work.” The administration’s fiscal 2017 budget request cuts by about two-thirds the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Material Protection, Control, and Accounting program for security upgrades worldwide, “a level not seen since these programs were first beginning in the mid-1990s,” the report said.
The Project on Managing the Atom highlighted the consolidation of nuclear-weapon-usable material as an area for improvement, noting that 30 of the 57 countries that possess this material have eliminated their stocks, but that “current U.S. plans for HEU removals would leave tons of U.S.-origin HEU in foreign countries (primarily in Europe)” and that few initiatives currently exist to consolidate military weapon-usable nuclear material stocks.
The report also recommended that countries with nuclear weapons and material make political commitments on physical protection; that the U.S. expand nuclear security cooperation with Pakistan, India, and China; that states launch a nuclear security culture initiative to strengthen security culture among nuclear facility operators and managers; and that Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism member states establish a working group on nuclear security as a forum for discussions beyond the Nuclear Security Summit process.
The Obama administration’s fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit will be held next week in Washington, D.C.
