Tomorrow's Institution Today: The Promise of the Proliferation Security Initiative

Author(s): Amitai Etzioni

Source: Foreign Affairs, Vol. 88, No. 3 (May/June 2009), pp. 7-11
Published by: Council on Foreign Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20699559 .
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 Tomorrows Institution
Today
The Promise of theProliferationSecurity Initiative

Amitai Etzioni

By earlyDecember 2002, theU.S. gov White House told reporters,"and there

ernmentknew thatan unflaggedmerchant is no provision under internationallaw
ship,theSo San,was transporting
ballistic prohibiting
Yemen fromacceptingdelivery
missiles and missile components from of missiles from North Korea."
North Korea to theMiddle East. As The inabilityto prevent the So San
the ship traversedtheArabian Sea, U.S. fromdeliveringitscargo revealeda related
officialsasked thegovernmentof Spain, flaw in the international nonproliferation
whose navyhad been trailingtheSo San, framework. Less than a year later, the
to stop and search it.Their demands United States attemptedtofill thegap by
thatthe ship stop ignored,Spanish spe launching
a new international arrange
cial forcesrappelledonto thedeck of the ment: theProliferationSecurityInitiative,
moving ship.Aboard, theydiscovered a cooperativeeffort
aimed at stoppingthe
15complete Scud missiles, 15warheads, transfer ofweapons of mass destruction
and barrels of rocketpropellant hidden (wmd). Under the auspices of the psi,
under sacks of concrete. Two countries can share and
days intelligence
later,Yemen admitted that itwas the coordinate theirmilitaries to interdict
intended recipient. ships and aircraftsuspected of carrying
The Bush administration was keen to such weapons or the materials from
but the shipwas allowed which theycan be made.
stop such traffic,
to continueon itsvoyage.Although the Many of the challenges thatcountries
initialsearchof theSo San was considered now face?such as the
global economic
legalbecause the shiphad triedto conceal crisis and threats to the environment?
its nationality, international law did not must also be tackled on a transnational
what thisor that
authorize confiscating level. But the old international system,
nation considered contraband. "We have based on worked out
arrangements by
looked at thismatter thoroughly,"the instructed representatives of national

Amitai Etzioni is University Professor and Professor of International

Relations atGeorgeWashington University and the authorof Security
First:
For aMuscular, Moral
Foreign Policy.

[7]

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 AmitaiEtzioni
is too cumbersome, too make them even less psi
governments, frequent. The
slow, and too narrowly crafted
to solve has no council inwhich one member can
cross-border problems. Recognizing this, exercise veto power. It has no multistate
academics and politicians have proposed committees that must unanimously
a slew of initiativesforbuilding new approve each target, as was the case for a
transnational institutions. Many of these while fornato during itsbombing oper
suggestions consist of one overarching ations inKosovo in 1999.And ithas no
framework, such as a league of democra bureaucracy thatmust be paid for and
cies, a strengthened United Nations, or a monitored and thatmay hinder action
global federation.The more promising wars, or officepolitics.
with red tape, turf
model, however, is less streamlined and Theoretically, each psi participant acts
more it is based not on a on its own,
complex; single sharing information and
organizationbut on amix of building coordinating its actions with the others,

blocks?building blocks like the psi. especiallythosewith navies in the relevant

however, the psi is led by
places. In effect,
INSTITUTION WITHOUT AN ADDRESS theUnited States, theonlycountry with a
The psi was
designed
to address what
trulyglobal navy, which thenworkswith
many consider to be the top security itsmajor allies, othermajor powers, and
threatto theUnited States, itsallies, a considerable number of small countries.
and world peace: the acquisition
or use The main role of the otherparticipants
of wmd by terrorists
or rogue states. It
(especially the smallerones) is to provide
was launched onMay 31, 2003, by the support,such as intelligenceor docking
United States, afterPresidentGeorge space, and consent for
ships registered
W. Bushdeclared, "When weapons of under theirflags to be boarded and
mass destruction or their components searched. This is important, as more than
are in transit, we must have the means half of theworld's largestcargo ships are
and authority to seize them." Initially, as
registered in tiny nations such Cyprus,
11 countries Panama.
joined the psi, but the number Liberia, and To put it differently,
of participantsgrew rapidly;more than even
though
a
large number of separate
now
90 countries take part, including bilateral ship-boarding agreements re
France, Russia, and the United King inforce the psi, it acts as a
single standing
dom (but not China). These states global antiproliferationforce led by one
share intelligence, the seas, and nation, with a cast of volunteers
patrol rotating
interdict ships that are suspected of joining thepatrols and raids.The psi is
carrying nuclear contraband. They have also unlike thecoalitionsthat intervenedin
also attempted to expand these measures Iraq
in 1991, Bosnia in 1995, and Kosovo
to international
airspace.
in 1999.These were ad hoc effortstailored
Unlike most international organizations, to one situation and limited in duration,
the psi has no headquarters or secretariat, whereas the psi functions continuously.
no charter or rules. It has not In aworld with no central government, the
participants,
psi a
members. The U.S. State Department provides rudimentary police force.
refers to the psi as an "activity." Plenary The standby and operational
nature of

meetings
are rare, and there are calls to the psi iswhat gives it strength.
Compare

[8] FOREIGN AFFAIRS Volume 88No. j

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the preparations necessary for a psi mis
sion with the steps needed to take similar
U
measures the old-fashioned first,any
way:
such action might well have required the

approvalof theun SecurityCouncil (which

could have taken years to secure, if it
was securedat all); then,a budget forthe
mission would have to have been secured;
the necessary troops would need to
finally,
have been assembled and
transported
to the theater of psi antic
operation. The
ipatesall these steps.It frequentlyholds
towork out in
joint training operations
advance how countries will coordinate
a mission.
It isdifficulttogauge theultimate
effectiveness of the psi, but it has been
a dozen times
successfully employed about
already. The initiative smost prominent
to date occurred in
accomplishment
October 2003, when U.S. intelligence
established thatequipment forenriching
uranium (produced inMalaysia using
designs provided by thenetwork ledby
thePakistani scientist
A. Khan) was
on itsway toLibya viaDubai. The ship
involved was the German-flagged BBC
China, and followinga requestby the
United States, the owner of the ship
diverted it to an Italian port. The Italian

government, a psi searched

participant,
the vessel and seized parts for a gas
was an
centrifuge. The action important
step in exposing Khans illicit nuclear
network and in halting Libya's clandestine
nuclear program.

TOO LEGIT TO QUIT?

An effective international system relies
on a combination of military force and

legitimacy?on hard and soft power. The

psi s merit is that it commands
special
not a level of hard
only very considerable

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 AmitaiEtzioni
power but also a fair amount of legitimacy. allow theUnited States to inspect ships
The Bush administrationwas widely aftergiving very shortnotice to the
criticized for itswanton disregard for governmentsunderwhose flags they sail
international (and domestic) laws and or on the basis of a
priori understandings.
norms. In the case of the psi, however, it In February 2004, for instance,theUnited
followed a ratherdifferentcourse, taking States and Liberia signed an agreement
pains
to ensure that the initiative was whereby each country is authorized to
consistent with international law. inspectships registeredunder theother
The challenge the psi firstfacedwas country'sflag on suspicion that thevessel
the basic international legal and
norma is transporting
wmd, theirdelivery sys
tiveprecept that shipshave the rightof tems, or related items. The United States
uninhibited passage in international and Panama signed
a similar agreement
waters and the right of "innocent passage" the same year.By 2007, theUnited States
through national territorial waters. At had such agreements with the Bahamas,
the same time, theverygoal of the psi Belize, Croatia, Cyprus,Malta, the
requires
interventions that appeared at Marshall Islands, andMongolia.
firstto conflict
with theselong-established Because the psi operates under inter
normative and legal concepts. But exist national law,has been at least indirectly
ing international law did provide some blessed by theun, and has been fortified
leeway.Article 19 of the un Convention by bilateral agreements, it can defend
on theLaw of theSea outlinesthecircum itselfagainst chargesthat it is illegitimate.
stancesunderwhich thepassage of a ship Its authority is not beyond reproach,nor
is considered "prejudicial to the peace, does itmeet every standard of interna

good order or securityof the coastal tional law. But considerable efforts have
State." Transporting nuclear contraband been made to form and operate the psi
could qualify. inways that are compatiblewith inter
psi
The acquired another layer of inter national law, international treaties, and
national legitimacy
in 2004, from un un resolutions. And it compares favor

SecurityCouncil Resolution 1540,which ably with many other international

calls on all states to take efforts against activities?one reason it has attracted
the proliferation of wmd. The resolution so little criticism.
iswidely considered to provide a sortof
A MODEL TO COPY
legal imprimaturto the psi andwas called
"complementary"
to it
by
one U.S. counter The psi shouldbe strengthened.
Legal
proliferationofficial. scholars should further develop the nor
To itselfwith interna
further square mative and legal rationalesbehind the
tionallaw,the psi draws heavilyon bilateral psiwith thehope thattransporting nuclear
the United States contraband across national borders will
agreements between
and "flag of convenience" states?coun come to be viewed as such a gross viola

tries, such as Liberia and Panama, where tionof internationalsecuritythat itwill

a largeportionof theworld sbiggest ships be considered legal for any nation
to use
are taxes most any means to prevent it. Indeed, it
registered for the sake of low
and lax regulations. These agreements has been suggested that such an act

FOREIGN AFFAIRS Volume 88No. j

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 Tomorrows Institution Today
shouldbe considered akin to slaveryand much harder tasks?for one, thewindow

piracy,two activitiesthathave longbeen for action in the air or on land ismeasured

deemed towarrant the notion in hours, not days?but are necessary
violating they
thatships shouldbe freefrominterference tomake proliferationharder.And in the
on thehigh seas and be allowed innocent long run,
if the psi is to become an impor

passage through territorial waterways. tant component of and a prototype for a

Because of a mix of self-serving and new set of international institutions, the

motives, theUnited Kingdom

altruistic listofparticipatingnationswill have tobe
promoted
the norm to ban the transna expanded, especiallyto include important
tional transportof slavesbeginning in countries such as Brazil, China, India, and
the late eighteenth century. As a consen South Korea.
sus grew around it
throughout the first The psimodel could be applied to
other international efforts?such as armed
part of the nineteenth century, the ban
was in custom, and humanitarian
gradually ensconced interventions, emergency
a license to interdict
ships that
were sus disaster relief, or campaigns to prevent the
slaves became new
pected of transporting part spread of epidemics?thus adding
of international law. building blocks to a new global architec
Until very recently, piracy, too, was ture. At least one recent effort appears

universallyconsidered a legitimatetarget to be designed like the psi.The Global

of national navies; indeed, itwas viewed Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism,
as
providing
a
precedent for the psi. which was launched in 2006 by theUnited
However, as a result of what at least States and Russia and now counts 75 par
communitarians would consider a radical ticipants, aims to
improve international
some
interpretation of human rights, cooperation in tracking nuclear terrorists
governments have recently and securing fissilematerial.
European
held that because pirates are criminals, The limited expansion of international

theycan be pursued only by thepolice, norms and laws,backed up by themilitary

not the
military?never
mind that police forces ofmajor countries, may well trans
have no jurisdiction on the high seas. form the psi into an ever more acceptable
Decisions like these have hampered and capable standing global force. An ex

attempts to fightpiracy in theGulf of panded

psi could be an
important element
Aden. Ifbasic securityis to be restored of a significantly
more effective,
and yet
to the seas, the
public interest
must take still legitimate, new global security archi
over absolutist tecture. to confront
precedence interpretations Policymakers seeking
ofpirates'human rights,just as itdid over new
challenges
are
right
to call for new
forms of governance to update today s out
the human rights of slave traders.
Both the legitimacyand themilitary moded intergovernmental system. True,
power of the psiwould be buttressed if the psi providesonlyonemodel forthat
the group's mission and composition were
system,a systemthatwill have tobe pieced
expanded. So far,the psi has been largely together
from a variety of elements. But
limitedto the seas; psi participantsshould when consideringa frameworkfor the
move to also interdict nuclear contraband future,itwould be amistake to ignorethe
transportedby air and land.These are precedent of the psi.?

FOREIGN AFFAIRS 2000

May/June [ll]

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