The Chemical Weapons Convention Strategic Implications For The United States

With the conclusion of a Chemical Weapons Convention and its expected entry into force in the next few years, policy analysis must begin to focus on the interim tasks associated with implementing the treaty. This volume reviews the thinking of experts inside and outside government.

Chemical weapon disarmament remains central to the implementation of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). But full and effective implementation also entails a wide variety of other activities. To achieve all these goals, in the coming months and years the states parties to the CWC will determine how the regime will adapt to the changing international security environment and to developments in science and technology. This report presents proposals for strategic approaches and directions for the parties to consider in their assessment of the CWC's operation. By placing the convention in a broader security and technological context, it examines operational and policy issues, with a view to informing the future activities of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The report will be of lasting interest and relevance to those interested in functional aspects of implementing the CWC regime and maintaining its future relevance.

The Chemical Weapons Convention is one of the cornerstone disarmament and arms control agreements, and the only global and comprehensive disarmament treaty that is being verified by an international agency. This Commentary assesses the provisions of the Convention and its implementation, with cross-cutting chapters providing a broader analysis.