The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has three very important sanctions programs that are designed to help fight the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The sanctions include Executive Order 13382, OFAC’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Trade Control Regulations, and OFAC’s Highly Enriched Uranium Agreement Assets Control Regulations.
Executive Order 13382 was signed by former President George W. Bush on 28 June 2005. This order was to block the property of WMS proliferators and their supporters by freezing the assets under U.S. jurisdiction of proliferators WMD. To isolate them financially and prohibit any and all transactions between foreign people and any U.S. person (“Executive Order 13382.”…show more content… What does this term mean? WMD is a nuclear, radiological, chemical and or biological weapon that can kill people, animals, and plants or destroy property. Along with that definition there are also other things that can happen but for this topic we will stick to the obvious. As stated above the world or the U.S. really did not have concerns about WMD’s even though there were several incidents that sparked concerns at the national security level. In Vietnam Agent Orange was a chemical deemed toxic to people because of the deadly chemical dioxin used in the makeup. It was heavily used in dense terrain to kill trees, shrubbery, fruits and vegetables; however, it was also deemed toxic to people. This chemical contaminated everything that it came in contact with such as people, plants, water, domesticated and wild animals. Not only did the Vietnamese suffer, but American forces started to show signs of exposure from this dangerous chemical. According to records “as veterans returned home, so did a strange array of physical disorders such as cancer, liver and kidney malfunctions, skin problems, vision and hearing impairment and degenerative nerve disease. Many veterans were dying prematurely, often before reaching the age of 40” (Milano 200, 16). It is still believed even today that the use of the Agent Orange chemical that was used in the 60s and 70s is believed to have caused health problems that linger today. Moving ahead almost three decades the group known as Aum Shinnkyo cult released sarin nerve gas on a Tokyo subway in which 12 people died and thousand fell ill (Harris, 2003, 234). What is even more concerning beside the loss of life is that the sarin gas was manufactured by members of the cult group? The worst thing that any country can do is to only focus on nuclear weapons while chemical and biological weapons continue to be a more reasonable
