The State Department’s Bureau of Verification and Compliance has issued its “annual” report concerning Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament Agreements.
(And by “annual”, BVC means just twice in five years. The previous report, released in June 2003, covered developments from December 1, 2000 to December 1, 2001. The current edition covers January 1, 2002 though January 1, 2004. Apparently, December 2001 was some kind of weird Bush Administration proliferation amnesty.)
The report is nearly three times as long as its predecessor, containing detailed information in three new areas: (1) Russian compliance with START I (see also the May 2005 report on Russian implementation of the Moscow Treaty), (2) the biological weapons capabilities of a number of countries and (3) nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.
The Russians—accused of violating (or helping others violate) every treaty under the sun—don’t seem very happy about the report.
Talk about scheduling problems.
The Compliance Report goes public today from DOS, PRC publishes its White Paper on Arms Control, Disarmament, and Nonproliferation on the same day, and the IAEA looks to release its latest BOG report on Iran for Saturday.
A busy weekend of holiday reading for arms control wonks everywhere.