Today’s Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Symposium, hosted by the Department of Defense and featuring remarks by President Obama, marks the 20th anniversary of the program to secure and eliminate weapons of mass destruction in former Soviet states.

CTR began as an initiative led by Senators Sam Nunn (D-GA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union to provide funding and expertise to secure and eliminate weapons and materials of mass destruction. Under the CTR program over 7,600 warheads have been deactivated, over 2,300 missiles destroyed, and 24 nuclear weapons storage sites secured.

With ongoing concerns over WMD proliferation, the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program is still relevant to today’s security threats. For more on Nunn-Lugar, see ASP’s fact sheet and ASP’s event honoring Senator Lugar for his contributions to national security.