to
The House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee
June 11, 2003
Introduction
Mr. Chairman and members of this Committee. It is an honor to appear before you with my colleague from NASA. We at the State Department consider it a privilege to work together with John Schumacher and his colleagues at NASA to further one of America's loftiest goals -- the mission of human space flight. At State, our contribution to this mission is to facilitate relations with our international partners in space exploration while safeguarding our broader national security interests. Although we cooperate closely with many space agencies around the world, any conversation about the U.S. space program would be incomplete if it did not note the unique and historic partnership we share with Russia in the field of human space flight. Space cooperation between the United States and Russia remains one of the most visibly successful elements of the U.S.-Russian bilateral relationship.
U.S.-Russian Space Cooperation
In recent months, this partnership has had to face
tragic and unforeseen challenges. In the wake of the
loss of the Shuttle Columbia, we have turned to our
Russian colleagues for their assistance in sustaining
the operations of the International Space Station (ISS).
Considering our mutual experience in space exploration,
Russia has undertaken important additional efforts to
maintain the viability of the ISS. With the shuttle
fleet grounded, the Russian Aviation and Space Agency
(Rosaviakosmos) readily accepted its role as provider
of the world's only physical link to the Station.
When the International Partners became concerned about
the supply of water and other critical provisions to
the Station, Russia made every effort to ensure that
its Progress resupply vehicle would be available to
provide support for the Station. The unmanned Progress
vehicles are critical workhorses for delivering supplies
to the Station. When the International Partners were
faced with the possibility of mothballing the Station,
Russia utilized a previously planned Soyuz launch to
ferry a fresh crew to the Station, a mission that had
been slated to be carried out by the Shuttle. This kind
of cooperation, in the aftermath of the loss of the
Columbia, has strengthened further our space partnership.
Underscoring the depth of this partnership, President
Bush and President Putin reaffirmed U.S.-Russian cooperation
in space at their June 1 meeting in St. Petersburg.
In their joint statement, the Presidents extolled the
role our two countries have played in the field of human
space flight and confirmed their mutual aspiration to
ensure the continued assembly and viability of the International
Space Station as a world-class research facility. Looking
to the future, the Presidents agreed to explore ways
to enhance our cooperation in the field of space technology
and techniques.
The Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000
As our space partnership proceeds and explores new areas of cooperation, both the State Department and NASA have been rigorous in enforcing the legislative requirements of the Iran Nonproliferation Act (INA) of 2000. With the International Partners and separately with Russian officials, the Administration has consistently made clear that all activity with Russia must be conducted within the bounds of U.S. law and our nonproliferation policy.
Bolstering nonproliferation remains a core issue on
the U.S.-Russia security agenda. The State Department
and other U.S. officials in the Administration have
engaged the Russian government at the most senior levels
to seek an end to sensitive cooperation between Russian
entities and state sponsors of terrorism, such as Iran.
In the context of our diplomatic engagement, Russia
has taken steps, though not yet sufficient, to implement
stronger export controls and improve oversight at Russian
facilities. In the case of Iran, we have made clear
our very strong concern that Russian cooperation with
Iran not facilitate Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons
or long-range ballistic missiles. While we cannot go
into great detail in an unclassified forum, we can affirm
that Russia has taken actions in response to specific
cases related to the proliferation of sensitive nuclear
technology in the course of our dialogue on nonproliferation.
We continue to monitor the issue of ballistic missile
technology assistance, and continue to be committed
to Russia's cessation of any assistance that could help
Iran with the delivery of WMD.
Iran's nuclear program was a key issue addressed by
Secretary Powell with President Putin in their May meeting
in Moscow and by President Bush with President Putin
in St. Petersburg on June 1. We have stressed our concerns
about the recent revelations of hidden Iranian efforts
to develop a nuclear fuel cycle capable of supporting
a nuclear weapons program, such as the centrifuge facility
at Natanz. Given what this new information says about
Iran's nuclear ambitions, we have again urged the Russians
to reconsider their nuclear cooperation with Iran and
believe they are actively doing so.
President Putin made clear at the G-8 Summit in Evian that all Iranian nuclear programs must be under IAEA safeguards. The IAEA Director General is conducting an investigation of the Iranian nuclear program, and his report will soon be taken up by the IAEA Board of Governors. Until Iran has fully satisfied the IAEA's examination and fully addressed the international community's concerns and questions, including full implementation of the Additional Protocol, no country should be engaging in nuclear cooperation with Iran. The Administration will continue to press the Russian government not to engage in nuclear cooperation with Iran until Iran signs an Additional Protocol and verifiably abandons its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Although it would be difficult to quantify the INA's impact on the Russian government's export control policy, I assure you that the pressure applied by the INA is palpable in any dialogue with Russia on space. Mr. Yuriy Koptev, General Director of Rosaviakosmos, has been particularly active in promoting reform throughout the Russian government, and frequently notes the constraints imposed by the INA on U.S.-Russian space cooperation. Other Russian officials also regularly express their concern about the INA constraints. While the Administration acknowledges Rosaviakosmos' sincere efforts to reform and to maintain a good record on nonproliferation, we remain concerned about Russia's broader nonproliferation record. We will continue our high-level diplomatic dialogue with Rosaviakosmos and other relevant Russian agencies to address this issue.
The U.S. Export Control Process
Domestically, State's Directorate of Defense Trade
Controls in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
ensures that our own export control policy is sound
and is implemented effectively, including in our space
cooperation with Russia. The Directorate is charged
with controlling the export and temporary import of
defense articles and defense services covered by the
United States Munitions List (USML). The Directorate's
mission is to advance national strategic objectives
and U.S. foreign policy goals through timely enforcement
of defense trade controls and the formulation of defense
trade policy. It carries out its mission by enforcing
the law and reviewing export license applications for
defense articles and services, ensuring that exports
approved are consistent with this mission and that companies
comply with defense trade laws and regulations. Through
the licensing process, relevant U.S. government agencies
have the opportunity to review individual export license
applications and advise whether proposed exports would
be consistent with our national security and foreign
policy. The State Department makes licensing decisions
accordingly. This extensive procedure applies not only
to exports to Russia, but to all U.S. exports, and helps
ensure that federal agencies such as NASA and U.S. aerospace
firms do not, even inadvertently, contribute to the
proliferation of sensitive technology around the globe.
U.S.-Russia Relations
A word about our overall bilateral relationship with
Russia. Our two countries are working hard to move past
our recent disagreement over Iraq. In St. Petersburg,
Presidents Bush and Putin made clear their determination
to reinvigorate the partnership. Expanding cooperation
in the security dimension remains at the top of the
agenda, and this includes pressing the Russians to improve
their performance on key nonproliferation issues. Likewise,
the Administration will persist in its efforts to enhance
U.S.-Russian cooperation in counterterrorism, strategic
stability, and missile defense. We also hope to broaden
our cooperation in space and expand the economic component
of our relations, particularly in the energy field.
We intend to continue working closely with our colleagues
at NASA to implement the Presidents' commitment to enhance
our cooperation in space, while remaining fully consistent
with our security and nonproliferation goals for the
bilateral relationship.
Thank you.
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