By Kerry Boyd
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Citing reports that an al-Qaeda leader has told U.S. officials that terrorists are close to obtaining a nuclear device to be used against the United States, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives this week filed legislation aimed at strengthening U.S.-Russian cooperation to lower the nuclear threat.

The proposed Nuclear Threat Reduction Act, sponsored by Representatives Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) and John Spratt (D-S.C.), would allow the president to waive certification requirements on Cooperative Threat Reduction programs, a change the administration has requested.  Currently lacking power to waive certification, the Bush administration informed Russia last month that it would suspend some funds due to questions about Russian compliance with chemical and biological weapons treaties (see GSN, April 8).

The bill would authorize increased funding for CTR programs in Russia and for research at U.S. laboratories on technologies to prevent attacks involving weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, April 23).  The bill would provide:

*         $1.4 billion for Energy Department threat reduction and nonproliferation programs, including $340 million for nonproliferation verification and research and development, $295 million for nuclear materials disposition and $520 million for “weapons activities, campaigns and high energy density physics;”

*         $600 million for Defense Department CTR programs, including $180 million for efforts to destroy chemical weapons in Russia, such as constructing a chemical weapons destruction facility at Shchuchye (see GSN, April 3) and

*         $300 million for State Department programs.

The bill would also call on the president to clarify how plans to reduce nuclear weapons could be accomplished by 2006, 2008 or 2010, compared to the current 2012 target date.  Bush has said the United States will cut its operationally deployed nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads within the next decade (see GSN, Nov. 14).

According to the legislation, the administration would be required to report the numbers of operationally deployed nuclear weapons, weapons to be held in a reserve force (see GSN, April 9), active and inactive weapons in the reserve force and weapons to be dismantled, said a Tauscher press release.

Tracking Nuclear Weapons and Materials

In the bill, Tauscher and Spratt also call on the United States to work with Russia to create an inventory system of nuclear weapons and materials.  Russia inherited its nuclear warhead security system from the Soviet era, and the system does not provide adequate protection against the possibility of theft, a Tauscher spokeswoman said, citing a National Intelligence Council report.

The bill also calls for a data exchange system between the United States and Russia to ensure that nuclear weapons are safely stored or eliminated. 

Nuclear Testing

The bill also addresses another controversial issue in U.S. nuclear policy — resuming nuclear testing (see GSN, April 23).  The bill would support the continuing U.S. moratorium on actual nuclear weapons tests and would require the president to notify Congress 18 months prior to a test, if the president decides resuming testing is necessary.

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

HOME  |  CONTACT US  |  GET INVOLVED  |  SITE MAP

Back to top