Russia has recently approved legislation allowing it to offer to import foreign spent fuel for storage, reprocessing, or even disposal in Russia. This represents a potentially dramatic development in the decades-long history of efforts to establish internationally collaborative approaches to management of spent fuel and nuclear wastes.

In light of the new and emerging challenges posed by international terrorism, we believe that it is now more important than ever that the U.S. and Russia, and indeed all countries around the world, increase their cooperation to block terrorist access to weapons of mass
destruction.

We are appalled by the terrorist attacks last week in New York and Washington D.C. Our sympathies are with the innocent victims and their families and friends. But we are also extremely alarmed by this event. There can now be little doubt that if such terrorists obtain weapons of mass destruction in the future they will use them. It is imperative, therefore, that preventing terrorists from gaining access to the technologies and materials of weapons of mass destruction - including nuclear materials - be a high priority component of the new global battle against terrorism.

The cooperative U.S.-Russian effort to ensure that Russian bomb material does not fall into hostile hands - known as the Material Protection, Control, and Accounting (MPC&A) program, managed by the Department of Energy (DOE)-is absolutely crucial to U.S. national security, playing a fundamental role in the global effort to stem the spread of nuclear weapons. Precisely because of the urgency and importance of the task, however, it is essential to ensure that it is being carried out in a manner that will reduce the security threat posed by insecure nuclear material as quickly and effectively as practicable.

This report provides an assessment of the current MPC&A program and makes recommendations designed to accelerate and strengthen the effort, including steps toward the difficult goal of achieving sustainable security for nuclear material in the former Soviet Union over the long term.