Weapons of Terror: Freeing the World of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Arms.

Weapons of Terror: Freeing the World of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Arms, Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, Stockholm, Sweden, 2006, ISBN 91-38-22582-4, paper. Electronic copies of this report can be found at www.wmdcommission.org. To order a printed copy of the report, go to http://www.fritzes.se/njab/ produkt.nsf/lf?ReadForm&73464.

On 1 June 2006 Dr. Hans Blix, the Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), presented the Commission report Weapons of Terror to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York.

The WMDC was launched by the Government of Sweden in December 2003 to respond to developments in international security and to investigate ways of reducing the dangers from nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons. The Commission Chair, Dr. Hans Blix, is the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Commission's mandate includes the proliferation and possession of nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons; the means of delivering them; ways to prevent their acquisition and use; and issues related to terrorism. While the Swedish Government has financed most of the costs of the Commission, several other governments and sources, notably The Simons Foundation in Vancouver, have contributed.

The report analyzes the threats under which the world is living today--above all, the 27,000 nuclear weapons now in existence and efforts by individual states and perhaps terrorist groups to develop or obtain different kinds of weapons of terror. It discusses current concerns related to Iran, North Korea, India, and Pakistan.

Weapons of Terror contains 60 concrete proposals on how the world could be freed of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. At the top are recommendations that all governments must accept the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, that states currently possessing nuclear weapons must reduce their arsenals, and that they must stop producing plutonium and highly enriched uranium for more nuclear weapons. The Commission proposes that a world summit be called at the UN on disarmament, nonproliferation, and the use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorists. The summit should also discuss and decide on reforms to make the UN disarmament apparatus more effective. To break the deadlocks at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, the Commission proposes that unanimity should no longer be required for issues to be put on the agenda, but that a two-thirds majority should suffice.

   When there is a greater general readiness to return to a
   cooperative multilateral system in the sphere of arms
   control and disarmament, the Commission's report, I hope,
   will contribute to the practical agenda. Some ideas and
   recommendations are new, but the Commission also
   espouses and argues in favour of some well-known existing
   proposals. Indeed, at the present time it seems to me that
   not only successes in the vital work to prevent proliferation
   and terrorism but also progress in two additional areas
   could transform the current gloom into hope. Bringing the
   Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty into force would
   significantly impede the development of new nuclear
   weapons. The weapons that exist today are bad enough.
   Negotiating a global treaty to stop the production of fissile
   material for weapons would close the tap for new such
   material and help hinder possible arms races--notably
   in Asia.