U.S. officials announced that the final munition in the nation’s obsolete stockpile of chemical weapons has been safely destroyed — a disarmament milestone decades in the making.
This achievement marks the destruction of all chemical weapon stockpiles declared to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague. The OPCW is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international arms control treaty the US ratified in 1997. The treaty prohibits the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer, or use of chemical weapons by all members. The accomplishment meets the United States’ commitment to complete its destruction operations by September 30, 2023.