Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program then-Sens. Sam Nunn (D-Georgia) and Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) created in 1991 continues through the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, DoD News reported Monday.
Cherly Pellerin writes Carter made the statement during an award ceremony in Washington to mark the 25th anniversary of the CTR initiative and recognize individuals who helped establish the program.
He said the initiative has evolved and its focus has extended to biological and chemical weapons, terrorism and other global threats.
“These threats also require new thinking of the kind that CTR represents and new ways of operating, like I’m challenging our department to show today,â€Â Carter said.
The CTR program was created as an amendment to the legislation on the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, Pellerin reports.
The amendment allocated $400 million in fiscal year 1992 funds in order for the Defense Department to help the Soviet Union destroy nuclear and other chemical weapons.
Carter also handed the first Nunn-Lugar Trailblazer Award to several individuals who helped created the CTR program during the event.
Click here to view the award recipients.
