Auditors chide coordination of threat reduction programs

U.S. programs to prevent the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons are poorly coordinated, congressional auditors have found.

Five federal departments-Defense, Energy, State, Homeland Security and Commerce--implement a range of threat reduction and nonproliferation projects overseas. The efforts suffer from the lack of an integrated strategy, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In a report (GAO-05-157) released Friday, GAO notes that Defense, Energy and State run programs with similar missions in three areas-security warheads, re-employing weapons scientists and controlling borders. Both Defense and Energy have programs to improve the security of sites where Russian warheads are stored. Defense, Energy and State have programs to find peaceful pursuits for former biological weapons scientists and to help countries secure their borders against smuggled weapons.

Because the work is spreading beyond the former Soviet Union and beginning to involve multiple agencies, the auditors recommend a synchronized approach. "In the absence of guidance for coordination, agency officials question the other agencies' roles and responsibilities," the report stated.

GAO said State and Defense officials acknowledged their border security programs are similar, and that State officials questioned whether some countries targeted by one Defense program still need the assistance.

The report calls for a governmentwide plan that addresses all threats and ensures effective coordination. Programs addressing border security and jobs for scientists need special attention from the National Security Council, GAO added.

The NSC is supposed to coordinate Defense and Energy threat reduction and nonproliferation programs. The State Department's Nonproliferation Bureau is supposed to do the same for border security programs. Defense and Energy officials told the auditors they were not aware of any guidance and that State's working group did not hold regular meetings. State remedied its problem, GAO said, by scheduling meetings every two months in 2005.

Threat reduction and nonproliferation programs have evolved from a $400 million Defense program in 1992 to about $1.8 billion in Defense and Energy programs in 2004.

Congress established the Defense Department's Cooperative Threat Reduction Program in 1992 to help secure and destroy weapons remaining after the breakup of the Soviet Union. One of the newest CTR projects is the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation Prevention Initiative to help former Soviet states deter, detect and interdict illicit trafficking of WMD and related materials. Expanding its reach, Defense will use CTR funds to help Albania eliminate its chemical weapons stockpile.

Energy has been helping to secure weapons-grade nuclear materials and employ former Soviet weapons scientists and engineers since the early 1990s, first with Defense and State funding, and later with its own. Through the National Nuclear Security Administration, Energy's mission to detect, deter and reverse proliferation has expanded to more than 70 countries, including Iraq.

The State Department manages its own nonproliferation programs and coordinates U.S. assistance to the former Soviet Union.

The Homeland Security and Commerce departments implement related programs, such as the Container Security Initiative at 34 foreign seaports, sponsored by Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection bureau.

For the audit, GAO reviewed four border security projects: WMD-PPI, Energy's Second Line of Defense Program, Defense's International Counterproliferation Program and State's Export Control and Border Security Program. SLD provides detection equipment to combat nuclear smuggling in the former Soviet Union and other countries. ICP is a coordinated effort with the FBI and the Coast Guard that provides training and equipment to detect, deter and prevent WMD smuggling. EXBS develops training materials and provides technical assistance and export control support.