Proliferation Security Initiative

The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) was initiated by the US administration under President Bush in May 2003. It establishes a framework for multinational response to the growing challenge posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials worldwide. 21 It is based on the following principles to which all participating states subscribe ... 

US Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Proliferation Security Initiative, Washington, DC., 15 September 2003, available at http //www. state. gov/ documents/organization/2425 2.pdf. 

T. D. Lehrman, Rethinking interdiction the future of the Proliferation Security Initiative, The Nonproliferation Review, 11 (2), 2004, 1-45. 

PROLIFERATION SECURITY INITIATIVE (PSI). An initiative established in 2003 as a response to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). PSI helps to implement the United Nations Security Council Presidential Statement of January 1992, which states that the proliferation of aU WMD constitutes a threat to international peace and security. PSI involves a group of like-minded states that have agreed upon a set of interdiction principles with the objective to prevent the shipment of WMD, their delivery systems, and related materials. 

In 2003 Britain and the United States engaged in a similar process with Libya in which the two countries, with the later involvement of the IAEA and OPCW, verified Libya s renunciation of NBC weapons and longer-range missiles. Measures taken to restrict or prohibit NBC weapons may also be divided according to whether they are demand side or supply side. Supply-side measures essentially consist of the development and effective implementation of export controls, while demand-side measures consist of effectively implementing multilateral agreements that prohibit or restrict such weapons. Finally, ad hoc arrangements of like-minded states (such as the Proliferation Security Initiative, PSI) have been developed. 

One of the primary concerns that precipitated the creation of the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI) and Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP) was that destitute individuals in the nuclear weapons research and production complex would feel compelled to sell their knowledge to obtain funds to enable their families to survive." Similar concerns contributed to the creation of programs to support individuals involved in research and production of biological and chemical weapons. Since the assessment in this report runs counter to commonly held impressions of the Russian economy, the evidence behind our conclusions is laid out in some detail. 

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