“For half a century, ACA has been providing the world … with advocacy, analysis, and awareness on some of the most critical topics of international peace and security, including on how to achieve our common, shared goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.”
Congress Seeks Nonproliferation Measures
As Congress began a new session in January, lawmakers kicked off the year with a flurry of proposals to stem the spread of nuclear arms and other deadly weapons, with most focused on ostensibly preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D-Del.), ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced legislation Jan. 24 designed to secure and dispose of Russia’s nuclear material. The omnibus bill authorizes spending of close to $300 million among five nonproliferation activities. It also endorses efforts by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) to end congressional restrictions on the programs and expand them beyond the former Soviet Union.
Proposed spending includes $60 million for the Department of Energy to convert one or more nuclear-weapon facilities in Russia to non-defense-related work. The conversions are part of the Nuclear Cities Initiative, which lapsed in 2003 because of disputes over liability protections afforded to U.S. contractors. The bill also calls for an additional $40 million in funding to President George W. Bush’s $416 million request for the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program under the Department of Defense budget. In addition, the Defense and Energy Departments each received authorization for $25 million to work with Russia to account for and destroy its tactical nuclear weapons.
Russia is estimated to hold thousands of tactical nuclear weapons, or smaller “battlefield” nuclear bombs, in undisclosed locations. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker last October urged Russia to provide more information about its tactical nuclear weapons arsenal. (See ACT, November 2004.) Legislation introduced Feb. 1 in the House by Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) authorizes efforts to inventory and secure these arms.
On Jan. 26, Reps. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), John Spratt (D-S.C.), and Martin Meehan (D-Mass.) put forth a series of measures on how to reduce nuclear terrorism. They said the measures were based on recommendations made by the federal commission that probed the Sept. 11 attacks. (See ACT, September 2004.)
The bill authorizes an additional $100 million for the Global Cleanout Initiative, which promotes efforts to eliminate fissile materials and related technologies in at-risk sites worldwide. The Biden bill authorizes $95 million for similar efforts.
Their legislation would establish a White House nonproliferation czar and charge this official with coordinating all federal government nonproliferation activities. The measure also urges the creation of a parallel office within Russia. The Schiff-Shays bill similarly recommends establishing a U.S. director.
Both the Tauscher bill and Shays-Schiff bill call for $50 million to be spent on boosting Bush’s Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). The money would be used to aid states supporting the PSI mission of intercepting proliferation in progress.
House GOP members made their views known on halting proliferation by releasing a Jan. 26 report through the House Republican Policy Committee entitled “All Tools at Our Disposal: Addressing Nuclear Proliferation in a Post 9/11 World.” The report stresses safeguarding nuclear material from terrorist organizations or regimes hostile to the United States.
The report deems as vital the development of enhanced detection technology and stricter International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections via the Additional Protocol, which expands the methods and tools inspectors can use to detect clandestine nuclear programs. It calls for increased exploration of “proliferation-resistant” nuclear energy technologies to make it more difficult for countries to abuse civilian nuclear energy industries allowed under the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Despite the administration’s position that a proposed fissile missile cutoff treaty cannot be “effectively verifiable,” the report concludes that the United States should negotiate a treaty “that is effective and verifiable.” The proposed treaty would outlaw production of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons purposes.