The Bureau of Arms Control is a bureau of the United States Department of State that is responsible for developing policy in the areas of conventional, chemical/biological, and nuclear forces, for supporting arms control negotiations, for implementing existing agreements in these areas, and for advising the Secretary on related national security issues such as nuclear testing and missile defense. As of 2005, it is headed by Assistant Secretary Stephen G. Rademaker.
The Bureau of Arms Control leads efforts to negotiate new arms control agreements, such as the May 2002 Moscow Treaty on strategic offensive reductions, as well as ongoing efforts in the Geneva Conference on Disarmament (CD). This Bureau also has the equally important task of implementing a large number of existing agreements, including INF, START, Moscow Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention. The Bureau has the lead for negotiations, implementation, and policy development related to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), Confidence and Security-Building Measures (CSBMs) in the OSCE, the Treaty on Open Skies, arms control elements of the Dayton peace accords, and other European conventional arms control issues. Moreover, the Bureau supports the Secretary and Under Secretary on issues and efforts with other countries related to strategic stability.
In early 2004, the Confidence and Security Building Measures office was moved from the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs to the Bureau of Arms Control.
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This article is based on the public domain text at the Bureau of Arms Control page on the website of the United States Department of State.
