Assistant Secretary Rose Gottemoeller for Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance today stressed that weapons of mass destruction-chemical and biological weapons-pose even greater challenges for arms control policy.
The weapons of mass destruction are dual use and difficult to disentangle from normal industrial or commercial processes. This is akin to some of the challenges that we face with so-called “cyber arms control.” -Ms. Gottemoeller
At Sidney Drell Lecture at Stanford University Stanford, Ms. Gottemoeller told the participants and students that they are at the top of the league tables in innovation and policy development for “connection technologies”-SMS, mobile communications, the web.
“I’d like to start out by making it clear that this is not a policy speech, this is an ideas speech. I am interested in your ideas about how the astonishing advancements in connection technologies over the past sixty years affect my business, the verification of arms control treaties and agreements.” -Ms. Gottemoeller
Ms. Gottemoeller said the United States verifies that countries are fulfilling their arms control treaty obligations through a combination of information exchange, notifications of weapon status.
She stated that the traditional tools of arms control policy are limited in how they apply to cyber-weapons and warfare. They are looking to new tools and policies to address cyber threats.
“Confidence-building measures are a good place to start. We are taking into consideration how our expertise in arms control CBMs can be applied to international cooperation on cyber security.” -Ms. Gottemoeller
