Whereas, on May 31, 2003, at Wawel Royal Castle, Krakow,
Poland, President George W. Bush declared that today I announce a new
effort to fight proliferation called the Proliferation Security Initiative. The
United States and a number of our close allies, including Poland, have begun
working on new agreements to search planes and ships carrying suspect cargo and
to seize illegal weapons or missile technologies. Over time, we will extend
this partnership as broadly as possible to keep the world's most destructive
weapons away from our shores and out of the hands of our common
enemies
;
Whereas, since May 2003, more than 60 countries have
indicated their support for the Proliferation Security Initiative;
Whereas, in September 2003, 11 countries agreed to and
published the Proliferation Security Initiative Statement of Interdiction
Principles, which, among other things, identifies specific steps for
effectively interdicting shipments of weapons of mass destruction, their means
of delivery, and related materials and for preventing proliferation
facilitators, brokers, and middlemen from engaging in this deadly trade;
Whereas the Proliferation Security Initiative has led to
the negotiation of bilateral ship boarding agreements designed to facilitate
the interdiction of weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery, and
related materials, including agreements with the Governments of Panama,
Liberia, and the Marshall Islands;
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540,
proposed by President Bush and adopted unanimously by the Security Council on
April 28, 2004, calls on all countries to take cooperative action to prevent
trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery, and
related materials;
Whereas the actions of the United States and its
Proliferation Security Initiative partners Germany and Italy contributed to the
interdiction of the ship BBC China
, a commercial ship carrying
centrifuge components for Libya’s illicit nuclear program, en route to Tripoli,
and also contributed to the constructive decision made by the Government of
Libya on December 19, 2003, to acknowledge its illegal weapons of mass
destruction programs and its agreement to eliminate its weapons of mass
destruction and long-range missile programs and rejoin the international
community by eliminating all elements of its chemical and nuclear weapons
programs, declaring all nuclear materials and activities to the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), eliminating ballistic missiles with a range
greater than 300 kilometers with payloads of 500 or more kilograms, accepting
international inspections to ensure Libya's complete adherence to the Nuclear
Non-proliferation Treaty, signing the Additional Protocol, eliminating all
chemical weapons stocks and munitions and acceding to the Chemical Weapons
Convention, and allowing immediate inspections and monitoring to verify all of
these actions;
Whereas the Report of the United Nations
Secretary-General's High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Changes finds
that [r]ecent experience of the activities of the A.Q. Khan network has
demonstrated the need for and the value of measures taken to interdict the
illicit and clandestine trade in components for nuclear
programs
;
Whereas the same Report also welcomes the voluntary
Proliferation Security Initiative, under which more and more states are
cooperating to prevent illicit trafficking in nuclear, biological and chemical
weapons
;
Whereas, acknowledging that existing non-proliferation
agreements and export control regimes are necessary but no longer sufficient,
the Secretary-General of the United Nations has stated: I applaud the
efforts of the Proliferation Security Initiative to fill a gap in our
defenses
;
Whereas the United States and many of its Proliferation
Security Initiative partners have conducted 14 ground, air, maritime, and
tabletop interdiction exercises over the last 2 years, beginning with the
Australian-led exercise Pacific Protector in September 2003; and
Whereas multiple countries have now participated in and
observed air, land, and sea interdiction training exercises, in particular the
October 2004 Team Samurai exercise, in which Japan, the United States,
Australia, and France contributed operational assets and Canada, Cambodia,
Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines,
Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, and the
United Kingdom participated as observers, and most recently in Exercise Ninfa
’05, a joint maritime and ground interdiction exercise led by Portugal: Now,
therefore be it
That it is the sense of Congress
that—
(1)the President is
to be commended on the occasion of the second anniversary of the creation of
the Proliferation Security Initiative for its broadening membership, increasing
international support, and successful operational training and
exercises;
(2)all the
governments of countries coordinating and cooperating in intelligence sharing,
training exercises, and legal agreements with the United States under the
Proliferation Security Initiative, in particular the meetings of the PSI
Operational Experts Group, are to be commended for their support in the global
effort to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, their means
of delivery, and related materials;
(3)the Proliferation
Security Initiative constitutes an important tool for coordinating diplomatic,
law enforcement, customs, intelligence, and military capabilities against the
illicit trade in weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery, and
related materials;
(4)all countries
must work together, particularly under the auspices of the committee
established pursuant to operative paragraph 4 of United Nations Security
Council Resolution 1540, popularly called the 1540 Committee
, to
further the implementation of the provisions of Resolution 1540 relating to the
international legal bases for continued, aggressive enforcement of all
agreements, treaties, and regimes that aim through interdiction activities to
end the illicit trade in weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery,
and related materials;
(5)the governments
of all responsible countries should endorse the PSI Statement of Interdiction
Principles and cooperate actively to interdict and disrupt illicit trade in
weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery, and related materials;
and
(6)as evidenced in
the historic December 19, 2003, decision of Libya to acknowledge and convert or
dismantle its illegal weapons of mass destruction programs, the Proliferation
Security Initiative can provide significantly enhanced enforcement of and
adherence to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, done at
Washington, London, and Moscow July 1, 1968, and entered into force March 5,
1970 (commonly known as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
),
the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling
and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, with Annexes, done at
Paris January 13, 1993, and entered into force April 29, 1997 (commonly known
as the Chemical Weapons Convention
), the Convention on the
Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological
(Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, done at Washington,
London, and Moscow April 10, 1972, and entered into force March 26, 1975
(commonly known as the Biological Weapons Convention
), the
safeguards system of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the
commitments and control lists of the Missile Technology Control Regime, the
Australia Group, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.