1.2: WMD and Conventional Weapons

Devote significant resources to counterproliferation, nonproliferation, verification and compliance enforcement, and consequence management.

Other Information:

Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the possession of terrorists or hostile states constitute a serious and immediate threat. We will devote significant resources to counterproliferation, nonproliferation, verification and compliance enforcement, and consequence management. We also seek to control the proliferation of destabilizing conventional weapons that undermine stability in fragile nations and volatile regions. We will work to prevent the acquisition of WMD by terrorists and hostile states. We will contribute to the international effort to secure, remove, and eliminate WMD, their delivery systems, and related materials through diplomacy, foreign assistance, and counterproliferation efforts. We will continue to build coalitions to interdict proliferation trade, disrupt financing, and punish violators. Working through international partnerships and organizations such as the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, the Group of Eight (G8) Global Partnership, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), we will strengthen our common capacity to deter, prevent, and manage the consequences of WMD terrorist attacks. We will work to strengthen other countries’ export and border security controls to detect and interdict the illicit movement of WMD. We will work to roll back hostile nuclear weapons programs, and will work with the IAEA to deny states the ability to pursue nuclear weapons under the cover of peaceful nuclear energy programs. We will support existing arms control and nonproliferation agreements and verification protocols, and will work with international partners to strengthen their implementation and ensure their compliance. We will support cooperative efforts to develop missile defenses. We will reduce stockpiles of destabilizing conventional weapons and munitions, and control their proliferation to areas of concern. Small arms and light weapons fuel civil wars, regional conflicts, and terrorist and criminal activity. We help limit illicit proliferation by strengthening multilateral export control regimes, and destroying surplus, poorly protected, or otherwise at-risk arms and munitions. We place a high priority on preventing the acquisition by terrorists and insurgents of Man Portable Air Defense Systems, which are particularly attractive to these groups due to their portability and potential lethality.

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