Assistant Secretary Paula DeSutter

The Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation is an agency within the United States Department of State. It is responsible for providing oversight of policy and resources of all matters relating to the verification of compliance---or noncompliance---with international arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements. The United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States Government, equivalent to foreign ministries in other countries. ... Nuclear proliferation is the spread from nation to nation of nuclear technology, including nuclear power plants but especially nuclear weapons. ... Disarmament means the reduction or elimination by a nation of its weapons systems. ...

The agency is headed by the Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation, who is currently Paula A. DeSutter. It was originally the Bureau of Verification and Compliance, established on December 21, 1999 by Secretary Albright. The Bureau became operational on February 1, 2000, with the new name giving emphasis toward its involvement in every stage of the arms control and nonproliferation process. December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Madeleine Korbel Albright (born May 15, 1937 in Prague, Czechoslovakia), American diplomat, served as the 64th United States Secretary of State. ... February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

The Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation, referred to as the "VCI Bureau," for short, is responsible for coordinating an Annual Report on "Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control and Nonproliferation Agreements and Commitments," which is required of the President by Congress. In its noncompliance assessments, the Bureau utilizes all source intelligence related to weapons of mass destruction and the proliferation behavior. The assessments are used in the process for evaluating and determining sanctionable activities. The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... Seal of the U.S. Congress. ...

As the Bureau acts as the Department's policy liaison to the Intelligence Community for verification and compliance, it provides guidance on funding and tasking priorities for collection resources. Bureau personnel participate regularly as Special Verification Advisors to, and as members of, delegations to ongoing bilateral and multilateral agreements. The Bureau co-chairs a number of Interagency Verification and Compliance Analysis Working Groups, including those related to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Open Skies Treaty, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction (usually referred to as just Biological Weapons Convention, abbreviation: BWC) was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons (with exceptions for medical... The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) from 1989 to 1992 established comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe (from the Atlantic to the Urals) and mandated the destruction of excess weaponry. ... Chemical Weapons Convention Opened for signature January 13, 1993 at Paris Entered into force April 29, 1997 Conditions for entry into force Ratification by 50 states and the convening of a Preperatory Commission Parties 170 The Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and... The Treaty on Open Skies entered into force on January 1, 2002, and currently has 30 States Parties. ... U.S. President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev signing the INF Treaty, 1987. ... START, officially the STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty was a nuclear weapons limitation treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. ...

The Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation also serves as co-chair with the intelligence community of the Verification and Monitoring Task Force to improve nuclear test detection and verifiability of nuclear related agreements. These groups provide the fora for discussion and resolution of issues arising from the implementation of treaties and commitments in-force and under negotiation, and the participation in the Department of State's sanctions groups provides further information for noncompliance assessments.

External links

• The Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation at the Department of State website
• The Bureau of Verification and Compliance archives