By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — In a modest blow to the Bush administration, the U.S. Senate yesterday passed a major defense spending bill without several nuclear weapons policy measures the administration had sought.  In a concession to President George W. Bush, however, the Senate approved the president’s full request for missile defense, but recommended that part of it be used to fight terrorism (see GSN, June 27).

The Senate version of National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2003 differs from the House version, which largely adopted the administration request (see GSN, May 10).  Notably, the Senate refused to authorize researching an earth-penetrating nuclear warhead, developing a nuclear warhead for missile defense or shortening the time needed to prepare for a nuclear test.

“Overall, we did pretty well.  It was not a perfect day, but a pretty good day,” according to John Isaacs, president of the Council for a Livable World, an arms control organization in Washington.

Administration Nuclear Policy Issues

The Senate did not vote to authorize $15.5 million, requested by the administration and approved by the House, for research on a new earth-penetrating nuclear weapon, intended for destroying deep and hardened targets (see GSN, March 19).

The Senate also did not match the House in allowing funds for the Energy Department to reduce the time it needs to prepare the Nevada Test Site for nuclear test, should the United States decide to end its 10-year testing moratorium (see GSN, March 22).

The House provision would reduce the time from 24 to 32 months down to 12 months, as recommended by the administration and suggested in its Nuclear Posture Review.  That change would bring the United States a step closer to resuming testing, a move critics say would force the United States to withdraw from the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, thereby undermining the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which is aimed at totally eliminating nuclear weapons.

The Senate also approved an amendment offered by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to prohibit developing or using nuclear warheads in the missile defense system.

It was reported earlier this year that the administration had asked an independent review panel to evaluate use of nuclear-tipped interceptors in the ground-launched, midcourse interceptor program, which critics argue would be easily stymied by decoys and other countermeasures (see GSN, April 11).

The House Armed Services Committee had recommended research into the concept.

Another potential Feinstein amendment that would have barred deploying missile defense systems before testing was not considered.

The Senate bill also includes language offered by Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) requiring classified and unclassified reports to Congress on the results of each flight test of the ground-based midcourse system (see GSN, March 18).

The bill also contains a provision requiring traditional Pentagon and congressional oversight of missile defense programs, which the Missile Defense Agency had said it would remove (see GSN, Feb. 19).

Missile Defense Funds Restored, But Veto Threat Remains

The $393.4 billion Senate bill restored $814.3 million cut by the Senate Armed Services Committee from the administration’s missile defense request with Levin’s approval.

The administration had threatened a veto if the money was not restored.  As part of a deal to gain Democratic support, the Senate also passed a Levin amendment urging the administration to prioritize the restored funds for terrorism.

The move did not appear to satisfy administration officials, and could prompt a veto if sustained in the House-Senate conference committee.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told a congressional committee yesterday the language would “severely delay” aspects of the programs.  Pentagon officials would recommend a veto if the “burdensome statutory restrictions” survived the conference, Associated Press reported.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s reception was more hesitant.

“There was language and then there was language and then there was a colloquy and a discussion.  And until one gets out the Ouija board and analyzes all that, we won’t know how we feel about it, and therefore we won’t know exactly how we would like to give guidance to the conferees when they get together to try to untangle it,” he said.

Another Veto Question

The bill includes a noncontroversial amendment by Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) to expand Energy Department nonproliferation programs for disposing of fissile materials in the former Soviet Union, and to provide $15 million for a program to address the radiological weapons threat.

Another important issue not related to nuclear weapons that will have to be decided in committee is the question of funding the Army’s Crusader self-propelled howitzer.

Rumsfeld has said he would urge Bush to veto the bill if it includes money for the program.  The House approved money for it, but the Senate voted to authorize the $475.6 million the administration originally requested for the program instead for developing an unspecified future Army combat system.

“My understanding is that the Crusader is out of the bill in the Senate,” Rumsfeld told reporters in the Capitol yesterday. “So, then, they’ll go to conference, and we’ll worry those things through.”

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