Yerevan, Armenia – The United States Departments of State, Defense, and Energy and the European Commission participated in a series of field training exercises with Armenia and Georgia from July 9-12. The exercises used realistic scenarios to demonstrate and strengthen notification and response procedures in the event of illicit movement of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)-related materials. The Armenian and U.S. Governments collaborate to prevent the illicit trafficking of WMD, WMD-related items, and advanced conventional weapons. This week’s exercises strengthen this collaboration and build on existing protocols of the Armenian Government for cross border communications and coordination procedures for responding to the detection of the movement of nuclear and other radioactive materials. These exercises follow on the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, Korea, where world leaders, including representatives from Armenia, reaffirmed commitments to international nuclear security. U.S. and EU cooperation with Armenia reflects a shared commitment to preventing nuclear and other WMD-related materials from falling into the hands of terrorists, smugglers, and proliferators. For additional information on the programs involved in the exercise, please see the links below: ? Department of State Export Control and Related Border Security Program – http://www.state.gov/strategictrade ? Department of Defense International Counter-Proliferation Program – http://www.dtra.mil/missions/ArmsControlVerification/ICP.aspx ? Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction/WMD-Proliferation Prevention Program – http://www.dtra.mil/Missions/NunLugar/NunLugarHome.aspx ? Department of Energy Second Line of Defense Program – http://nnsa.energy.gov/mediaroom/factsheets/nnsassecondlineofdefenseprogram ? European Commission Joint Research Centre – http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/ ? European Commission South Caucasus Integrated Border Management Programme – http://scibm.org/

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