SENSE OF CONGRESS ON RATIFICATION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION AND START II TREATY.

SEC. 1406. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON RATIFICATION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION AND START II TREATY. (a) Findings.— Congress makes the following findings: (1) Proliferation of chemical or nuclear weapons materials poses a danger to United States national security, and the threat or use of such materials by terrorists would directly threaten United States citizens at home and abroad. (2) George Bush. John Shalikashvili. Events such as the March 1995 terrorist release of a chemical nerve agent in the Tokyo subway, the threatened use of chemical weapons during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and the widespread use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980’s are all potent reminders of the menace posed by chemical weapons, of the fact that the threat of chemical weapons is not sufficiently addressed, and of the need to outlaw the development, production, and possession of chemical weapons. (3) The Chemical Weapons Convention negotiated and signed by President Bush would make it more difficult for would-be proliferators, including terrorists, to acquire or use chemical weapons, if ratified and fully implemented, as signed, by all signatories. (4) United States military authorities, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili, have stated that United States military forces will deter and respond to chemical weapons threats with a robust chemical defense and an overwhelming superior conventional response, as demonstrated in the Persian Gulf War, and have testified in support of the ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention. (5) The United States intelligence community has testified that the Convention will provide new and important sources of information, through regular data exchanges and routine and challenge inspections, to improve the ability of the United States to assess the chemical weapons status in countries of concern. (6) The Convention has not entered into force for lack of the requisite number of ratifications. (7) Russia has signed the Convention, but has not yet ratified it. (8) There have been reports by Russian sources of continued Russian production and testing of chemical weapons, including a statement by a spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defense on December 5, 1994, that “We cannot say that all chemical weapons production and testing has stopped altogether.”. (9) The Convention will impose a legally binding obligation on Russia and other nations that possess chemical weapons and that ratify the Convention to cease offensive chemical weapons activities and to destroy their chemical weapons stockpiles and production facilities. (10) The United States must be prepared to exercise fully its rights under the Convention, including the request of challenge inspections when warranted, and to exercise leadership in pursuing punitive measures against violators of the Convention, when warranted. 110 STAT. 493 (11) The United States should strongly encourage full implementation at the earliest possible date of the terms and conditions of the United States-Russia bilateral chemical weapons destruction agreement signed in 1990. (12) The START II Treaty negotiated and signed by President Bush would help reduce the danger of potential proliferators, including terrorists, acquiring nuclear warheads and materials, and would contribute to United States-Russian bilateral efforts to secure and dismantle nuclear warheads, if ratified and fully implemented as signed by both parties. (13) It is in the national security interest of the United States to take effective steps to make it more difficult for proliferators or would-be terrorists to obtain chemical or nuclear materials for use in weapons. (14) The President has urged prompt Senate action on, and advice and consent to ratification of, the START II Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention. (15) The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has testified to Congress that ratification and full implementation of both treaties by all parties is in the United States national interest and has strongly urged prompt Senate advice and consent to their ratification. (b) Sense of Congress.— It is the sense of Congress that the United States, Russia, and all other parties to the START Il Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention should promptly ratify and fully implement, as negotiated, both treaties.