United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-11-07 monographic deposited born digital 18 p. GA 1.13:GAO-02-226T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-226T P0b002ee180384286 f:d02226t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-226T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-226T GAO-02-226T Biological warfare Export regulation International organizations International relations Nuclear proliferation Terrorism Weapons systems Chemical warfare Weapons of Mass Destruction Testimony A02436 The attacks of September 11, 2001, and recent anthrax exposures have heightened long-standing concerns about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The United States and the international community have initiated a number of successive efforts over the years to secure these weapons and prevent their spread. There is renewed need to maintain strong international controls over such weapons and related technologies, as well as the need to reevaluate the effectiveness of the controls. The United States has used four key policy instruments to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: (1) international treaties, (2) multilateral export control arrangements, (3) U.S. export controls, and (4) security assistance to other countries. Each instrument is important to the collective framework for preventing the transfer of weapons of mass destruction and associated technologies to terrorists or rogue states, but each also has limitations. International treaties obligate members to restrict transfers of weapons of mass destruction technologies, but their effectiveness depends on whether treaties can be verified and enforced and whether all countries of concern are members. Multilateral export control arrangements are voluntary, nonbinding agreements under which countries that produce the technologies used to develop weapons of mass destruction agree to restrict the transfer of these technologies. U.S. export controls set the legal and regulatory conditions under which goods and technologies can be exported. Security assistance to other countries helps control or eliminate nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and otherwise stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-226T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-226T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-226T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-226T.pdf GAO-02-226T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-226T Testimony GAO-02-226T; Weapons of Mass Destruction: Assessing U.S. Policy Tools for Combating Proliferation; Biological warfare Export regulation International organizations International relations Nuclear proliferation Terrorism Weapons systems Chemical warfare Weapons of Mass Destruction Public Law 90-629 Public Law 96-72