CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): U.S. COMMENTS

S E C R E T STATE 058248

SIPDIS
THE HAGUE FOR CWC DEL
ALSO FOR EMBASSY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2019
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC OPCW
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): U.S. COMMENTS
ON 2008 VERIFICATION IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

REF: A. EC-57/HP/DG.1 (2008 VIR)

B. DATED 24 APRIL 2009

Classified By: Philip A. Foley
for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)

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Overview
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1. (U) This is an action request; see paragraph 3.


2. (U) The primary means by which the Technical Secretariat
(T.S.) provides information to States Parties on
implementation of Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)
verification requirements is the Verification Implementation
Report (VIR). Annual VIR reporting takes place in four
phases, beginning with the distribution of the VIR as soon as
practical after the end of the reporting period (the end of
the calendar year). Later each year, the TS distributes: a
corrigendum to the VIR reflecting corrections of fact, based
in part on States Parties, comments; a compendium of States
Parties, comments on the VIR; and a supplement to the VIR
providing additional verification-related information from
annual declarations of past activities (ADPA) and annual
declarations of anticipated activities (ADAA). The 2008 VIR
(Ref) will be on the agenda for the 57th session of the
Executive Council (EC),July 14-17, 2009. Consultations on
the 2008 VIR will be held on June 24, 2009 to address States
Parties, comments and will be the basis for the Council's
consideration of the 2008 VIR.


3. (U) This cable provides U.S. comments on the 2008 VIR and
guidance for the U.S. CWC Delegation (Del) for the upcoming
consultations, which are arranged into three sections:

-- The first section (paragraphs 4 and 5) provides general
comments on the 2008 VIR and VIR reporting process;

-- The second section (paragraph 6) raises specific questions
and issues with the VIR relating to other States Parties; and

-- The third section (paragraph 7) provides comments and,
where needed, background relating to U.S. information in the
VIR.

Del should draw upon comments from these three sections, as
appropriate, during the consultations, and report back on the
results of discussions. To the extent that issues relating
to U.S. information (paragraph 7) are not satisfactorily
addressed during the consultations, Del should seek follow-on
consultations with and/or written responses from the T.S.
Del should submit written U.S. comments (paragraphs 6 and 7)
to the TS for circulation to States Parties and incorporation
into the compendium of States Parties, comments. Del is also
asked in paragraph 8 to provide an additional item of
information to the T.S. in a separate discussion.

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General Comments
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4. (U) The annual VIR and the three subsequent, additional
documents provide the information on which States Parties can
assess implementation of the CWC verification regime. The
critical review of these documents by the EC is an essential
part of the Council's oversight responsibilities under
paragraphs 30 and 31 of Article VIII, and can provide useful
insights as to needed Council actions. Substantive discussion
among delegations and the T.S. are needed to clarify issues
and determine whether any EC action, including providing
guidance to the T.S., is needed. The content and quality of
the VIR have been consistent over the past several years ) a
very low level of incorrect or outdated information, a
consistent publication schedule, and an established
consultation format to address specific issues for each
annual report. This consultation provides the opportunity to
engage the T.S. and other States Parties in discussing a
broader more fruitful agenda for the VIR.


5. (U) Del should draw upon the following points in direct
communications with the T.S., and during the consultations,
as appropriate:

-- As soon as possible, Del should recommend to the T.S. and
the consultation chairperson that the June 2009 consultation
begin with a briefing by Verification Division staff
highlighting key trends, developments, and issues reflected
in the 2008 report ) a suggestion made, but not acted upon,
last year. If this request is declined, Del should press the
T.S. to agree to present this type of briefing in the near
future.

-- Del should communicate U.S. interest in increasing the
potential benefit of the VIR consultations by encouraging
delegations to expand the scope of these discussions, and
thus we suggest the June 2009 consultation agenda include a
segment dedicated to discussing suggestions made by the T.S.
and States Parties for improving the VIR reporting process,
including the schedule, reports and report content.

-- Del should repeat our long-standing request to provide the
entire VIR, or at least the tabulated information, in a more
user-friendly form (e.g., as Excel spreadsheets, rather than
a pdf file),which would make it much more useful for States
Parties.

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Written Comments for T.S.: General Issues
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6. (S/Rel OPCW) Begin written comments addressing general
issues and information on other States Parties:


A. Section 2: Executive Summary

-- Page 11, paragraph 2.7, line 2: Substitute &warfare
agents8 for &weapons8.

-- Page 11, paragraph 2.8 (c),line 1: Substitute 98.5% for
99% to correlate with data on VIR page 23.

-- Page 11, paragraph 2.9: This paragraph should address the
actions taken for the remaining CWPFs for which residual
production capacity is not zero, e.g., the number and
location of inspections conducted.

-- Page 12, paragraph 2.15: This paragraph should include
information on optimization measures that were continued from
previous years.


B. Section 3: Overview of Inspections

-- Page 14, paragraph 3.4, Table 3: Remove percent symbols
from column 2 rows.


C. Section 4: Chemical Weapons

-- Page 15, paragraph 4.1, next to last line: Substitute
&days8 for &hours8.

-- Page 15, paragraph 4.2, line 2: Insert &since EIF of the
Convention8 after &destruction8 and in line 5 remove
&since EIF of the Convention8.

-- Page 15, paragraph 4.4: Correct the first sentence to
refer to Table 4, rather than Table 3.

-- Page 20, paragraph 4.22, line 3 and page 21, paragraph
4.23 (b),line 4: Correct spelling to
&-chloroaceptophenone8.

-- Page 23, paragraph 4.33, line 3: Substitute &to be8 for
&being8 and in line 4 read &this add-on plant8 for &the
add-on plant8.

-- Page 25, paragraph 4.43, line 4: Correct spelling to
&phosphorus8.

-- Page 26, paragraph 4.48 (c) line 2: Correct spelling to
&fluoride8.

-- Page 29, paragraph 4.60(c),line 2: Substitute &begin8
for &being8.

-- Page 31, paragraph 4.71, last line: Correct spelling to
&phosphorus8.

-- Page 33, after paragraph 4.82: As was done for India
(paragraph 4.36),the report should include the Russian
Federation aggregate MT and percent destruction as of
December 31, 2008.

-- Page 36, paragraph 4.89 (b),line 2: Correct spelling to
&-chloroaceptophenone8.

-- Page 38, paragraph 4.100, line 10: Insert &kiln8 after
&rotary8.

-- Page 42, after paragraph 4.125: As was done for India
(paragraph 4.36),the report should include the U.S.
aggregate MT and percent destruction as of December 31, 2008.

-- Page 45, paragraph 4.134, line 4: insert &soman8 so
within the brackets it will read: &(filled with sarin, soman
and lewisite)8. This makes the information consistent with
that on VIR page 120.


D. Section 5: Chemical Weapons Production Facilities

-- Page 47, paragraph 5.6, line 3: Replace &until8 with
&no later than8, which is the language in C-11/DEC16.

-- Page 49, paragraph 5.15, line 2: After prohibited add &by
the Convention8 and after deadline remove &of the
Convention8.


E. Section 6: Old and Abandoned Chemical Weapons

-- Page 55. paragraph 6.4, line 5: Replace &68,7918 with
&69,369. This is consistent with Annex 16.

-- Page 55, paragraph 6.5, line 9: Replace &around 45,0008
with &41,7278. This is consistent with the data in Annexes
15 and 16.


F. Section 7: Industry Verification

-- Page 65, Paragraph 7.7: Add the following to the end of
the second sentence: &which was submitted to the Council at
its Fifty-Fourth session and was pending approval at the end
of the review period.8

-- Page 73, paragraph 7.48, line 2: Replace &annual8 with
&aggregate8.


G. Section 8: Other Verification-Related Activities

-- Page 77, paragraph 8.21, line 1: Replace &4 and 58 by
&7 and 88.


H. Section 9: Technical Support for Verification Activities

-- Page 84, paragraph 9.4: A reference should be added to
Annex 29, which provides a list of designated laboratories
and their status as of the end of the reporting period.


I. Annex 3 ) Status of Inspection Files for 2008

-- Page 95-111: The fourth column heading &Observations8
differs from the corresponding heading in previous years,
which was &Issues from Inspections.8 The inclusion of
observations made from the inspections, not directly related
to outstanding issues or follow-up requirements (e.g.,
declaration updates or amendments) or their need for
clarification or correction, does not contribute to defining
the status of inspections and should not be included.

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Written Comments for T.S.: U.S. Issues
--------------


7. (U) Begin written comments addressing U.S. issues:


A. Section 4: Chemical Weapons

-- Page 17, paragraph 4.8, Table 5: The United States does
not agree with the total quantity of United States Category 1
CW destroyed as indicated in Table 5 (15,949.393 MT). The
U.S. Annual Report for Destruction (ARD) indicates a total
quantity destroyed of 15,949.496 MT, including the Category 2
quantity of 0.010 MT. Removing the Category 2 quantity from
the ARD total results in 15,949.486 MT destroyed,
representing a 0.093 MT (93 kg) difference from the VIR
total.

-- Page 20, paragraph 4.22: The United States does not agree
with the total quantity of agent destroyed in the 6th line
(see Comment on Page 17, Table 5 above). In addition, change
the description in the third sentence to read: &(of its
declared stockpile of Category 1 and 2 chemical weapons.8
The total destroyed number in this paragraph refers to both
the Category 1 and Category 2 CW destroyed according to VIR
numbers (15,949.393 0.010 = 15,949.403 MT).

-- Page 39, paragraph 4.102: Change the description of the
48 kg destroyed to read: &(as well as 48 kg of recovered
VX agent stored in a 30-gallon drum. The 48 kg was not
unknown agent from recovered chemical weapons but, rather, a
container of VX agent discovered at the former production
facility and subsequently declared (NACS 153664).

-- Page 39, paragraph 4.107:
- Change the type of agent destroyed in the first sentence to
read: &(and 18.409 MTs of HT) had(8, as reported in the
2008 TS CWDF interim reports. Pine Bluff does not possess H
agent in its stockpile.
- Change the type of agent destroyed in the second sentence
to read: &((89.481 MTs of VX, (8, as reported in the
2008 T.S. CWDF interim reports. There was no GB destruction
at Pine Bluff in 2008.

-- Page 40, paragraph 4.110: Correct the munition
description in the first sentence to read: &(three M70A1,
115-lb bombs;(8, as reported in TS CWDF interim reports and
the CW declaration for the Pine Bluff CWSF.

-- Page 40, paragraph 4.112: Change the unknown quantity of
agent fill to read: &(both with unknown fill (3.33
kg)(8, as reported in the PDTDF IR #5 and subsequently
corrected in NACS #177912. The correct quantity is also
found in paragraph 4.113.

-- Page 40, paragraph 4.113: Change the overall quantity of
agent destroyed at the PDTDF to read: &(containing 21.88
kg(8, as reported in PDTDF IRs #1-5.


B. Annexes

-- Page 91-111, Annex 3 ) Status of Inspection Files for
2008: The VIR should indicate if a State Party submitted the
necessary updates or amendments to declarations within the
VIR reporting period (CY2008). Otherwise, the
&Observations8 column indicates the requested information
has not yet been received as of 1 January 2009. For the
United States:
-SCHED/172/S1/08,page 100: The United States transmitted the
necessary amendment to the T.S. in October 2008. Revise
fourth column as &Amendments were provided(8
- SCHED3/224/08, page 102: The United States transmitted the
necessary change via amendment to the T.S. in August 2008.
Revise fourth column as &Information was updated(8
- SCHED3/232/08, page 102: The United States transmitted the
necessary change via amendment to the T.S. in October 2008.
Revise fourth column as &Information was updated(8
- OCPF/522/08, page 111: The United States updated the
operational status of this plant site in August 2008. Revise
fourth column as &The operational status of the OCPF was
correctly reflected in update to OCPF list updated.8
- OCPF/539/08, page 111: The United States updated the
requested information in August 2008. Revise fourth column
as &(and the product group code was updated.8

-- Pages 114-116, Annex 5 - Details Regarding Amendments to
Initial Declarations with Respect to Chemical Weapons
- Page 114, United State of America, National Aggregate
(Chemical Weapons),line 7: Change 3353.536 to 3535.536;
the correct total HT in the United States of America is
3535.536 (Reference NACS #177785 dated December 19, 2008).
- Page 115: Correct Pine Bluff Chemical Activity Bond
Exclusion Area (PBCA BREA) to the correct title Pine Bluff
Chemical Activity Bond Road Exclusion Area.

-- Pages 122-136, Annex 7 ) Status of Declared Chemicals and
Destruction Plans by State Party
- Page 134-135: The United States notes different quantities
of chemicals destroyed since EIF for four of the agents
listed, in addition to the summed total. See the Comment
above related to Table 5 on page 17 above.
- Page 135: Correct the quantity of UNK agent destroyed in
2008 to 1.426 kg, as reported in the U.S. ARD.
- Page 134-135: The United States notes different quantities
of chemicals destroyed since EIF for four of the agents
listed, in addition to the summed total. See the Comment
above related to Table 5 on page 17 above.
- Page 135: Correct the quantity of UNK agent destroyed in
2008 to 1.426 kg, as reported in the U.S. ARD.
- Annex 7 provides a tool for comparing total destroyed
quantities by chemical agent, but there is no single annex
that lists all reported annual and total quantities of
destroyed quantities by chemical agent by facility, making
reconciliation with the VIR destruction figures problematic.
Annex 9 provides information on closed facilities, but the
destruction numbers in Annex 8, and the basis for deriving
them, is unclear. For ease in reconciling data, we recommend
adding a new Annex to future VIRs that lists each CWDF,
whether active, inactive, or closed, with the associated
reporting-year destruction figure (if applicable) and the
overall quantity destroyed since EIF. The total destroyed
quantity from this new by-site table should match the total
quantity destroyed in the by-chemical Annex 7.

-- Pages 137-143, Annex 8 ) Chemical Weapons Destruction
Facilities in Operation in 2008 or Planned to Operate in the
Future
- Pages 140-143: The United States does not understand how
the quantities reported in the &Verified Destruction (in
MTs)8 column were determined or through what time period
they are meant to represent. The United States is unable to
validate the quantities listed in this column. Please clarify.

-- Pages 137-143, Annex 9 - Chemical Weapons Destruction
Facilities that Have Completed Operations
- Page 146: Correct the quantity of lewisite destroyed in
the &Verified Activities8 column to: &0.2 kg.8 The
correct quantity of lewisite destroyed is 0.189 kg, as
reported in the CAMDS Preliminary Findings, which rounds to
0.2 kg.
- Page 147: Change the total destruction of chemical agent
at JACADS to: 639.577 MT. The number indicated in the VIR
fails to credit approximately 46 kg of agent destroyed and is
not in agreement with the declared quantity of chemical agent
at USACAP and JACADS upon EIF.

-- Pages 161, Annex 15 ) Status of Old Chemical Weapons
produced Before 1925: Page 161, United States Row:
- Column 2: Change 2 to 1. The interim holding facility at
Spring Valley, Washington, DC, is currently the only U.S.
facility where old chemical weapons are being stored.
- Column 4: Change 8 to 30. The 30 OCW have been previously
disposed of.
- Column 5: Change 27 to 5. The 5 items declared in 2008
(NACS #176170 dated June 12, 2008 & NACS #177811 dated
December 30, 2008) are the only OCW awaiting disposal.

-- Page 165-166, Annex 19 - Declared and Inspectable Schedule
2 and 3 Plant Sites: Page 166: The number of Declared
Schedule 3 sites should be 51, rather than 53 as reported.

-- Page 169, Annex 21 ) Declared, Declarable, and
Inspectable OCPFs: Page 170: The data for the United States
should be 517, 517, 508, 184, 508, 508, and 161 rather than
as reported.

-- Page 188, Annex 29 )list of Designated OPCW Laboratories:
Page 190, Item 19: Correct the address to: Edgewood
Chemical and Biological Forensic Analytical Center,
AMSRD-ECB-RT-CF, Bldg 5100, 5183 Blackhawk Road, Aberdeen
Proving Ground, MD 21010-5424. The &Edgewood8 before
&MD8 has been deleted.

End written comments.


8. (U) Del should provide the following additional
information to the T.S.- regarding page 111, item OCPF/592/08
in Annex 3 - Status of Inspection Files for 2008, in a
separate, bilateral discussion: Since this inspection, the
plant site has been removed from the list of declared
discrete organic chemical plant sites. Thus, the number of
DOC plants and the product group code will not be updated, as
indicated in the VIR.
CLINTON