Nonproliferation Agenda and G-8 Summit
Royce Schedules Thursday Hearing to Examine Nonproliferation at Upcoming G-8 Summit 

BACKGROUND: Next week’s G-8 meeting at Gleneagles, Scotland will focus on Africa and climate change.  Another topic to be addressed, though one that has received less public attention, is the G-8's Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, which was initiated at the 2002 G-8 meeting in Kananaskis, Canada.  Meeting shortly after 9/11, the world's leading industrial countries concluded that WMD material, related technology and expertise, mostly based in the former Soviet states, pose a serious threat to international security should they fall into terrorist hands.  This threat remains serious today, most believe. At Kananaskis, the G-8 countries pledged to spend collectively $20 billion over ten years on threat reduction programs to secure WMD facilities, destroy weapons, hire scientists and technicians with WMD knowledge. To date, some $17 billion has been pledged to this effort, including $10 billion from the U.S. - though far less has been spent on programs since this commitment was made three years ago. The core theme of next week’s Partnership meeting will be "Pledges Into Progress," ironing out remaining obstacles to progress so that the pace of program implementation can increase.  This hearing will preview the nonproliferation agenda at the upcoming G-8 meeting.  Will $20 billion actually be spent on cooperative threat reduction and related programs by 2012?  Is greater funding required and warranted?  Which G-8 countries are doing their share? Has the Partnership spurred greater cooperation by the Russian government?  Might the issue of liability, which has stymied many programs in Russia, be resolved?  Has the Partnership improved U.S. security?  What significant nonproliferation developments will come out of the G-8?  Will this G-8 meeting amount to more than a "talk-shop"?     

WHAT:                                          Subcommittee Oversight Hearing: Nonproliferation and the G-8
                                                       Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation
                                                       U.S. Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-CA), Chairman

WHEN:                                          2:30 p.m., Thursday, June 30, 2005

WHERE:                                        Room 2255, Rayburn Office Building

WITNESSES:                                Michèle A. Flournoy, Senior Advisor, International Security Program, Center for Strategic
                                                        and International Studies;
                                                        Baker Spring, F.M. Kirby Research Fellow in National Security Policy, The Heritage Foundation;
                                                        Leonard S. Spector, Deputy Director, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of
                                                        International Studies; and
                                                        Jon Wolfsthal, Associate and Deputy Director for Nonproliferation, Carnegie Endowment for
                                                        International Peace.