Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed whether certain countries are using U.S.-sponsored cooperative programs as a means of obtaining technical information that may be useful to their nuclear weapons programs, focusing on: (1) the extent and nature of nuclear weapons-related cooperative activities concerning safety, security, reliability, and performance; (2) exports between the United States and Russia, China, India, Israel, and Pakistan; and (3) the executive branch's assessment of the potential impact of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) on weapons modernization.
GAO noted that: (1) there is no evidence indicating the United States engages in international cooperative programs with Russia, China, India, Israel, or Pakistan that encompass nuclear weapon safety, security, reliability, and performance; (2) while not engaged in stockpile stewardship, however, the United States is engaged in unclassified scientific and technical projects with Russia that are limited to safety and security of nuclear weapons; and (3) in addition, the executive branch's assessment of the CTBT concludes that, by prohibiting nuclear explosions, the treaty constrains but does not preclude weapons modernization.
