On 24 June 2002, Mr Cirincione provided a comprehensive review of the Bush Administration’s non-proliferation policies. He underscored that the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) has assumed top priority on the U.S. national security agenda and explained that the terrorist attacks of September 11 has created a new threat perception in Washington that merges the threat from terrorists and the threat from rogue states. To meet this threat, the U.S. government is seeking to supplement or replace traditional instruments, such as multilateral treaties, with stronger defences (including missile defence) and more ‘active’ measures, including possible pre-emptive action. Mr Cirincione stated that the administration was in the process of developing a new worldview in connection with the impending National Security Doctrine due later this year. He thought this view might incorporate an effort to prevent the emergence of any competitors to challenge U.S. supremacy by building a U.S.-led coalition against the common security threat of terrorism. In Mr Cirincione’s view, the U.S. government needed to conduct a more systematic threat assessment and thought that military means were overemphasised in the administration’s tool kit for the fight against WMD proliferation. He did not see WMD proliferation as being a global issue but rather confined to specific regions, such as the Middle East and South Asia. As a result, he argued that the underlying problem remained regional tensions and disputes that required primarily political and diplomatic tools to resolve.
