The report is the result of 11 hearings held in 1997 by the Subcommittee under the chairmanship of Senator Thad Cochran. It focuses on major WMD suppliers - China, Russia, and North Korea. The report evaluates not only foreign proliferation, but also US responsibility, and assesses the proliferation consequences of the Clinton Administration's decontrol of the export of critical dual-use technologies, such as supercomputers. The report concludes that even if U.S. nonproliferation efforts work reasonably well, they will only slow the spread of WMD and, in particular, ballistic missile technology.
Active defences are therefore integral to reducing the proliferation threat to America.