Congressional Report Questions India’s Nonproliferation Record as Vote Nears on Nuclear Deal

U.S. congressional analysts have questioned India’s nonproliferation credentials just before a key Senate vote on the pending U.S.-Indian nuclear trade deal, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, Nov. 10).

A report by the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan office that provides background papers for U.S. lawmakers, says India has “poorly implemented” its export controls.  The situation could lead the country to “unwittingly transfer sensitive information” about uranium enrichment technology to other nations, the report says.

The U.S. Senate might vote this week on legislation enabling the U.S.-Indian pact, a deal which calls on New Delhi to open its civilian nuclear power program to international oversight in exchange for receiving nuclear technology from the United States.  India has not had access to international nuclear aid because it has not joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, so the new deal would require an exemption from U.S. and international nuclear export rules.  The U.S. House of Representatives approved the enabling legislation earlier this year.

Both Republican and Democratic Senate leaders have expressed a willingness to vote on the legislation this year to avoid restarting work in the next Congress in January, AFP reported.

The CRS report notes that the United States sanctioned two Indian scientists in 2004 for transferring nuclear-related technology to Iran and expresses concern that India has not improved its export controls since then (see GSN, Oct. 14, 2004).

“India’s nonproliferation record continues to be scrutinized, as India continues to take steps to strengthen its own export controls,” the report says (P. Parmeswaran, Agence France-Presse/ Yahoo!News, Nov. 14).

Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers have not yet received an intelligence report on India that they requested in January, the Washington Post reported today.

The heads of the House and Senate foreign relations committees, joined by the two senior committee Democrats, asked for a review of India’s export controls and its commitment to nonproliferation.  National Intelligence Director John Negroponte has not yet provided any written report, but the National Intelligence Council did give two oral briefings earlier this year that did not directly address the information requested, the Post reported (Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, Nov. 15).

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