The United States also has contributed more to the operation of the OPCW than any other country -- both in our regular budget assessments, and in agreeing to the provisions of the Convention requiring possessor states alone to bear the cost of verifying the destruction of their chemical stocks and chemical weapons facilities. The United States has been a stalwart supporter of this international effort to abolish chemical weapons.

Global chemical weapons disarmament must succeed. That is why we are gathered here today. As last September demonstrated, nations are an easy target for terrorists who seek, both on their own and through the cooperation of some states, that very chemical-biological mass destruction capability that we have foresworn. We encourage and applaud the efforts of State Parties to the CWC to coordinate and multiply their actions to thwart terrorist access to and use of chemical weapons. The CWC is one of the key elements in the disarmament component of the struggle.

To implement all of this, an effective Technical Secretariat is essential. That requires leadership that is focused on the goal of chemical disarmament and chemical weapons nonproliferation. The Technical Secretariat must command the respect of all the member states to engender the cooperation essential to the Organization's success. Under the present Director-General, the Technical Secretariat lacks that requisite support and cooperation.