News

In 2003 in Krakow, Poland United States President George W.Bush announced the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). The PSI aims at interdicting vessels at sea or in the air that are reasonably suspected of carrying the weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials.  PSI targets states of concern and regimes that support terrorism.

PSI has considerably restrained the illicit trade in WMD and missile materials, improved intelligence information sharing, promoted creation of new norms of international law.

States of concern today cannot openly and without impunity traffic ballistic missiles or centrifuges for uranium enrichment making use of commercial sea or air routes.

PSI activities made the Libyan leader to shut down secret WMD production programmes, made it more difficult for North Korea to trade in ballistics missiles, compel other regimes in the Middle East and Asia to rethink their policy on WMD programmes.

Lithuania has been actively participating in the PSI activities since 2004 when it supported the Principles of Interdiction. At the end of this year or early next year Lithuanian experts plan holding an aircraft interdiction and inspection exercise.

U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice and Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antanas Valionis released a joint article, which aims at wider promotion of the PSI significance.

At the initiative of the U.S. State Department, similar PSI editorials were published in major newspapers in other states that participate in PSI.

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Lithuania and the United States, Allies at NATO and longstanding partners, having based their relationship on mutual values and continued transatlantic cooperation, have worked hand in hand on addressing international security threats. 

One of the greatest challenges to international security today is fight against the threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Diplomats, intelligence officers, customs and police officials, armed forces from many nations work together to stop the flow of WMD items be it at sea, in the air, or on land. They are participants in the multinational Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) created two years ago to stop the real-life spread of weapons of mass destruction.

The Initiative marks its second anniversary on 31 May 2005.  Under this Initiative, nations across the globe – including the United States and Lithuania – are working in partnership to reduce the risk of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists, rogue states, or black marketeers. Over the past two years, a variety of participants have led sixteen WMD interdiction training exercises in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.  Later this year, Singapore and Norway will lead PSI-related activities. Pursuing its national goals, Lithuania is also engaged in planning of interdiction exercises later this year.

Over 60 countries, including Lithuania, already support the PSI, and additional participants are welcome.  Most recently, Argentina, Georgia and Iraq have endorsed the Initiative. 

PSI consists of an agreement among participating states to take concerted action against proliferation through cooperation among their law enforcement communities, militaries, and foreign ministries. The PSI Statement of Interdiction Principles sets out the core objectives and cooperative methods of the Initiative.  All actions taken by partner countries must be consistent with national and international laws, regulations and procedures. 

PSI advances the spirit and letter of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540, which calls on all UN member states “to take cooperative action” to prevent trafficking related to weapons of mass destruction. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has applauded the work of all countries active in the Initiative and highlighted it as an example of the type of cooperative action that nations should be pursuing to reduce the current global proliferation threat.  The Secretary General’s 2004 “High Level Panel Report on Threats, Challenges and Change” cites the smuggling network of renegade Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan as a reminder of the need to take new actions to interdict clandestine trade in components required for nuclear, chemical, biological or radiological weapons development.

As we have learned from the unraveling of the A.Q. Khan network, proliferators are employing increasingly sophisticated and aggressive measures to obtain materials related to weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems. They rely heavily on front companies and brokers in their quest for arms, equipment, sensitive technology, and dual-use goods and they hide their illicit trafficking amid legitimate commerce.  An early success of the PSI – the 2003 interdiction of the BBC China ship – shows how cooperative international efforts can stop proliferators in their tracks and prevent the exploitation of vital trade flows.

Lithuania has demonstrated its commitment to address these new proliferation threats at UN, NATO, and EU, within export control regimes, and in the far-away peace-building missions in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

Both the United States and Lithuania are interested in a strong and cohesive Europe, and PSI is example of the cooperative efforts that help to achieve that goal.

For the terrorist, the acquisition of a nuclear, chemical, biological or radiological device can only mean one thing – mass murder and devastation on a scale far worse than that of the September 11, Beslan, Madrid, Bali and other attacks of recent memory combined.  Every day, the U.S., Lithuania, and all other nations participating in the PSI are working in partnership to ensure that such a nightmare never occurs – here or anywhere else within our international community.

Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Secretary of State

Antanas Valionis
Foreign Minister of Lithuania