The Federation of American Scientists just launched a Chemical Weapons Convention Archive featuring a document of the day section. They started off with a 1997 letter from then former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney urging the Senate to “reject the Chemical Weapons Convention.”

The Chemical Weapons Convention outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. It was signed in 1993 and went into force in 1997. To date, it has been signed by 183 of the 195 nations recognized by the UN and is widely considered an essential international treaty for the prevention of the unspeakable horrors associated with the use of chemical weapons.

Besides launching the archive, FAS will be blogging live from the second review conference of the CWC in the Hague from April 7-18. Every 5 years parties to the treaty get together to review the treaty and try to improve it. Enforceability is really the key issue for the CWC and with both Russia and the United States unlikely to meet their deadlines for destruction of their chemical weapon stockpiles, the subject of noncompliance is likely to take up much of the meeting. Scientific and technological advances including the convergence of chemistry and biology will also be hot topics.