Dismantling, destruction of soviet nuclear and chemical weapons. Next, former senators sam nunn and Richard Lugar marked the 25th anniversary of the initiative in the historic kennedy caucus room on capitol hill. Hopehour and 15 minute discussion and Award Ceremony was hosted by the National Security archive, the Carnegie Endowment, and the Nuclear Threat initiative. Thomas blanton ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, just a few words of welcome today. I am tom blanton, i am director of the National Security archive at George Washington university and honored to be one of the organizers of today. This is the day that 25 years ago president george h. W. Bush signed the nunnlugar legislation into law. Now being document fetishists, we scoured the bush library for the photographs of that extraordinary moment, and none exist. There was not a signing ceremony, which gives you a sense of the kind of mixed opinion in the Bush Administration about this Congressional Initiative in foreign policy. But the judgment of history is in. The wall street journal called the nunnlugar legislation one of the most prescient pieces of legislation ever enacted. Today on the National Security archives website, you can see the declassified documents and the real danger of that time, the first ever declassified list strategic9 soviet Nuclear Warheads that were outside the boundaries of russia at the end of the soviet union. Rounding them up, securing Nuclear Weapons, cleaning up the legacy of the cold war arms race, that was and it still is a heroic task carried out by many. And many of those heroes are here today with us. Not least Richard Lugar and sam , nunn. You have their biographies and many others in your program. Others couldnt be with us but send their greetings. That is general yvgeny, who is in the hospital recovering from surgery. But also greetings from friends and colleagues like rose and ash carter, many heroes. Our thanks also to senator john cornyn, the majority leader of the United States senate, who secured this room for us. He was a champion of the freedom of information act and one of our close allies on opening the u. S. Government, and i want to thank him for this. Isles a want to thank the staff of this archive, not the least our Extraordinary Program director and all of the others who really make this work, bringing this usable history, to the present. We also appreciate the Nuclear Threat initiative founded by sam nunn, its first president is here with us, fantastic organization. My thanks to the loser center lugar center. My thanks to the Carnegie International endowment for peace. George perkovich is with us today. I need to say thank you to the Carnegie Corporation of new york. Carnegies visionary funding back in the 1980s creating built the research on preventing nuclear war and methods of cooperative security that gave rise to the nunnlugar idea. It was present at the first meeting when the legislation took shape, and carnegie is with us today, not just the president of that time, and Vartan Gregorian. They are with us to understand this effort on what we did right and what we did wrong and bring that history to now so that we can really build mutual security in todays dangerous world. So it is a particular honor for me to introduce dr. Vartan gregorian to bring the nunnlugar reward tonight. Vartan. [applause] Vartan Gregorian thank you very much. Join me, george. I have the easiest job. Introduce to people with no introduction, about that. Dig lugar and sam nunn. I not going to use the others because someone else will present them. But i want to today tell you that i feel at home here. All this organizations, nuclear archives,tiative, Carnegie Endowment, all of them are grantees of Carnegie Corporation, but most importantly of all, usually successors do not normally give predecessor. Ir i want to give credit to the only one who started with me, namely david hamburg. Without this, it would not have happened. Thank you, david. [applause] last but notian least Andrew Carnegie was , against war. War capitalist, he thought was not necessary. There is plenty of competition available an opportunity for everyone. He labeled war the foulest blight that has ever disgraced the earth. His decision was to eradicate war and force all conflicts into arbitration. Therefore he found Carnegie Corporation of new york and the endowment for national peace, international affairs. So it is my delight and pleasure to introduce a distinguished social scientist who has done so much on Nuclear Nonproliferation. George perkovich, Vice President of Carnegie Endowment for international peace, who has a few words for other leaders pursuing is with great effort. So, George Perkovich. George perkovich thank you, vartan. [applause] George Perkovich i have learned that it is a fools errand to try to follow him, so i will be brief and add a knowledge and two other people add acknowledgments to mr. Hamburg and others. Bill burns cannot be here today, but he sends his regards to all of those especially the honorees. I would just say, i remember when the legislation was passed. I was working in the senate in fact in this building for senator biden, and i was thinking about it coming over, and particular senators nunn and lugar, i was thinking about the exemplars you were then and remain of the integrity and commitment to ascertain facts , to understand deepseated challenges in a bipartisan way and in an internationally cooperative way, and that program and your leadership were then truly exemplary as i think all of us now are hoping like Something Like that could be rekindled as we go forward even as we are a little worried that perhaps it may not be the case. Again, i am so grateful for you to be here and for vartan for making this happen. Vartan gregorian the Carnegie Corporation of new york and the endowment established this effort which comes with a 50,000 award for two individuals. The past founding effort was made to none other than dick lu. Ar and sam nunn who was the other one . I forget now. Minister evano, and two other important individuals. We are given four minutes for two of us, and we have saved only three minutes. I would like to introduce steve dell row so who is here from Carnegie Corporation who is handling our project. The other person who is working on the university could not be here. I would like to get a handle. So steve delroso who is doing the real work here. [applause] Vartan Gregorian with that, thank you very much. Senator nunn, i believe you have a citation to read, then we will have senator lugar read his citation, and then we will turn the Panel Discussion. And then David Hoffman will take control of the proceedings. You, tom well thank blanton. You and your team have done a tremendous job of looking at the nunnlugar program. I am sure dick and i will be a lot of surprised with the things that are there. You have done it all with the legally without any leaks. These days that is pretty darn significant. I am delighted to be here. It is also a wonderful privilege to be able to say thank you to so many people in this audience and play such a big role in this whole history of the nunnlugar program. It is a great honor to be with carnegie, you and david hamburg and carnegie and the whole team done a tremendous job. Not only did you have the analytical studies done that me tod dick lugar and convince the United States senate to pass this in december 1991, but i also when i first , came up with this idea of we had to do something, i was at a conference in budapest, hungary, and my friend left when gorbachev was taken captive. And he went straight back. It was the first day of the congress. He went back to the soviet union and called me after gorbachev was released. I spent five or six fascinating days and surrogate was my interpreter when i sergei was my interpreter when i was there. That was when it became apparent to me that we had to take action. Friday played a huge role, and vartan, for you to bestow this award on me and dick lugar in the first place, and now we have two honorees today, it is indeed i think a tremendous thing for carnegie to do. I have often said that the only downside in all of this in partnering with dick lugar, is, like his wife charlotte, i had to give up my last name in many parts of the world. That is the only downside of being a partner with dick lugar. So it is my great honor today to be able to present an award, this award, to general mattson. I will be making it directly to the general. It is appropriate he received the award. As tom said, he had surgery and could not be here, but general esin has played a huge role in u. S. Russian relations and the Nuclear Arsenal. ,e headed the Russian Strategic provided strong leadership. Will be accepting the award [indiscernible] he served in the soviet and Russian Defense ministries for over 40 years. He was the commander of the 12th named directories, general staff from 1992 to 1997, acting as the person responsible for all munitions and security. In 1993, when president Boris Yeltsin ordered military forces into the parliamentary building, russia and the former soviet republics were in a violent. Tate of upheaval ever vigilant, general mattson conducted aggressive testing of the Nuclear ResponseProgram Throughout russia ensuring any terrorism would be countered by exhaustive safeguards and ironclad preparation. General mattsons absolute accountability for the testing, rail transport, storage, dismantlement, and repatriation of every single Nuclear Warhead for the duration of its service life cannot be overstated. His comprehensive expertise were was instrumental in successfully transferring thousands of Nuclear Warheads by rail to russia from belarus taconic stand and from ukraine. Kazakhstan and from ukraine. Inhough he stepped down 1997, his commitment to non proliferation has been unwavering. As one of the leading authorities on the clear security and verification, his cause is immeasurable, even continuing today. Membern executive board at the center for policy studies in russia, a director of the aspect Conversion Group of companies, and advisor to the senate for energy and support studies. General mattson has offered several publications on Nuclear Nonproliferation and he added book, security of Nuclear Arsenals in the russian federation, to his acclaimed roster. His accomplishments have been acknowledged with multiple governmental honors, including the laureate of russian state, the order of the red star, an order for service to the fatherland. Today we give tribute to this distinguished leader and the Guiding Force behind russias Nuclear Nonproliferation efforts. We honor his expert sees his expertise, we honor his service, we honor his wisdom and conscience, and integrity. We are eternally indebted to perform with grace under fire. It is a great privilege and honor to present the third annual nunnlugar award for promoting Nuclear Security to colonel general mattson. [applause] accidents happen, which is why we have to be so careful with the Nuclear Arsenal. [laughter] [speaking russian] viktor esin the realization for the nunnlugar program helped solve pressing tasks in the threat of Nuclear Security and Environmental Protection in russia, and then also helped develop context between the representatives of the Nuclear Industry in both of the countries. This year is also the 20th anniversary since the last Nuclear Warheads were withdrawn belarus thatand stayed there after the dissolution of the soviet union, which cleared the way for these two states as well as kazakhstan for which these Nuclear Weapons were withdrawn earlier to join the treaty on the nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons as nonnuclear states. This technically means of securing weapons and materials provided with the help of the nunnlugar program played an Important Role in solving this task. It wont be an exaggeration if i say that in terms of its importance to security, the collective work within the framework of the nunnlugar programs, especially in the early years, is comparable to the military and Economic Cooperation between moscow and washington during world war ii. Let me express my gratitude and appreciation for the award. I would like to know that i see this award as the praise for the work of all russian material officers, workers and servicemen who participated there and id and directly in the destruction of Nuclear Warheads, international ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines, and chemical weapons. Sure, russia could have carried these tasks out on their own, the soviet union did create and test an atomic bomb in 1949, just four years after world war ii, but it would have measurably more time. Increased environmental catastrophes and would have demanded colossal expenses. Thanks to the efforts of both sides, we were able to complete the task of destruction with maximum safety and in a very short timeframe. Here in the new year, new opportunities will open up for reviving relationships between the countries. Twoin my view, one of the priority tasks would be the creation of a joint mechanism to prevent accidents in the Nuclear Sphere in the air and on the high seas. Let me express that hope that these opportunities will be used effectively. In the history russia and the , United States have never been at war with each other. [speaking russian] [applause] Richard Lugar it is now my privilege to give an award to a brave man. It has already been said today, we owe the Carnegie Corporation for these wonderful ideas. We owe a lot to those who Carry Forward those ideas. I appreciate especially my partner sam nunn who was conducting hearings, looking for partners that might be helpful. I appreciate especially even five years before that, president Ronald Reagan asking 16 members of the senate to go to geneva, switzerland. There were eight republicans eight democrat. Reagan knew that not only was bipartisanship important, but you needed two thirds majority to pass a treaty. Turned out that 1986 was not a time for a armscontrol treaty that we anticipated, and time went by until the year of 1991 we celebrate today. But the facts are and have been suggested pardon me. December 12, of 1991, exactly 25 years ago, there may not have been enormous enthusiasm in the white house in signing the legislation. As a matter of fact, sam and i found out pretty rapidly that there were some who felt that we overstepped our bounds altogether, that the president of the United States was the person that deals with the grave situations of this sort, or the secretary of defense and secretary of state. To have two senators putting putting together a coalition of senators and passing legislation of this variety, it seemed a little upsetting. It is reassuring to be here today with bill perry and to see david hamburg here and asked and andy weber. Asked carter was on the trip, the plane trip back to russia, ukraine and belarus in april of gotnext year, and we all religion together. We saw the problems that were faced by the former soviet union and now by the states that, two weeks after the signature of the nunnlugar bill, had divided into 15 countries, and for very large four very Large Nuclear powers. Action didnt occur right away. Some had pointed out that the first 800 million or so that was appropriated by the first two congresses that dealt with this resulted in 50 million of expenditures. This was not easy to get underway. This is why it is so important today we recognize those who really helped it get underway, who knew the nittygritty of the problems, who were with us in our trips to russia, to ukraine, to belarus, to cause extent, and then cause extent kazakhstan and then to others. So for many of you who played an Important Role in russia and the United States in the <