Message to the Congress Transmitting the Annual Report of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to transmit the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency annual report for 1990. This report deserves your close review.

The year 1990 witnessed the signing of the multilateral Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, which, when satisfactorily implemented, will be a major step in reducing the numbers of deployed weapons in the area bounded by the Ural Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S.-U.S.S.R. Chemical Weapons Destruction Agreement was also signed. Significantly, both the Treaty Between the United States and the Soviet Union on Underground Nuclear Weapon Tests (TTBT) and the Treaty on Underground Nuclear Explosions for Peaceful Purposes (PNET) entered into force. Substantial progress was made during 1990 in the Strategic Arms Reductions Talks (START) and in our efforts to curb the worldwide proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The Arms Control and Disarmament Agency's 1990 annual report provides details of these and other developments, including the conduct of arms control negotiations, the coordination of treaty implementation procedures, and other activities conducted pursuant to the Arms Control and Disarmament Act.

As the report illustrates, the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe and in U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations have not diminished the importance of effective and verifiable arms control agreements.

George Bush

The White House,

March 20, 1991.