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United States: Pentagon Seeks Freedom to Research New Nuclear Weapons By David Ruppe The Air Force, meanwhile, is planning to request congressional funding within a week to develop new high-yield nuclear weapons for a separate, but possibly overlapping mission to destroy deeply buried, hardened bunkers, the Washington Post reported today. The request said the research ban impedes exploration of weapons concepts that could offer capabilities both for earth penetration weapons and for defeating chemical and biological agents. These developments are “another piece of evidence the administration is willing to pursue new nuclear weapons of all kinds,” said Stephen Young, an analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists. Arguments Provided for Low-Yield Work In a draft version of its fiscal 2004 budget request sent to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees this week, the Pentagon argued for repealing the ban on research into a low-yield, “mini-nuke.” The ban was created by Congress in 1994 and bars research and development on nuclear weapons with yields below five kilotons. The request said the repeal is needed to “train the next generation of nuclear weapons scientists and engineers,” and to “restore a nuclear weapons enterprise able to respond rapidly and decisively to changes in the international security environment or unforeseen technical problems in the stockpile.” The military seeks a “revitalized nuclear weapons advanced concepts effort” and said the ban has had a “chilling effect” on that effort “by impeding the ability of our scientists and engineers to explore the full range of technical options.” It said the ban “does not simply prohibit research on new, low-yield warheads, but prohibits any activities ‘which could potentially lead to production by the United States’ of such a warhead.” “It is prudent national security policy not to foreclose exploration of technical options that could strengthen our ability to deter, or respond to, new or emerging threats,” it said. In comments on the Senate floor yesterday, Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said the Pentagon was seeking to repeal the low-yield nuclear weapons ban “even though there is clearly no military requirement for such a weapon.” Representative John Spratt, (D-S.C.) who drafted the legislation that created the 1994 ban, questioned yesterday whether low-yield nuclear weapons would even work as intended. He cited quotes by former national laboratory scientists who argued it would be difficult to develop a miniature nuclear weapon that could destroy chemical and biological agents instead of dispersing them. Young of the Union of Concerned Scientists challenged the Pentagon’s reasoning that a repeal of the low-yield nuclear weapon development ban is needed for training scientists and engineers. “What is needed now is scientists and engineers who are capable of maintaining the existing stockpile of nuclear weapons,” he said. “The problem they face is that it’s a less exciting challenge than developing new nuclear weapons. If they can’t blow things up in the labs or at the live test site, they might have trouble attracting top scientists to do the work. It doesn’t mean they should do that to fulfill that goal.” Democratic Criticism Critics have charged that the Bush administration’s pursuit of new nuclear weapons, and suggestions it may use such weapons missions in combat, undermines the international norm against using nuclear weapons, as well as the treaties designed to discourage nuclear proliferation, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. “Frankly, this adds up to a very disturbing path of legitimizing the use of nuclear weapons in a world in which we are dramatically concerned with the possibility that Iraq is attempting to obtain nuclear weapons, a world in which the North Koreans are beginning to flaunt their ability to produce nuclear weapons, in which India and Pakistan are on the brink of conflict with nuclear weapons,” said Reed. Senior Senate Democrats, including three presidential candidates, yesterday proposed but withdrew a resolution that offered a lengthy indictment of a range of Bush administration policies related to WMD proliferation. It said a policy “that moves toward the goal of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and away from the increased reliance on and the importance of nuclear weapons” would further the U.S. goal of preventing nuclear weapons proliferation. “Development of new and theoretically at least more useable nuclear capabilities by the greatest nuclear power on earth sends the clear message to other countries that they should develop their own nuclear weapons programs,” said Kathryn Crandall, an analyst with the British American Security Information Alliance. Possible Earth Penetrator Testing The Energy Department has requested $21 million for research on “advanced concepts,” $15 million of which would be allocated for continued study of options for the high-yield “earth penetrator” weapon. Everet Beckner, deputy administrator for defense programs of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said yesterday in congressional testimony the money would support “theoretical and engineering work” that “might culminate in an integral flight or laboratory test” of a prototype weapon, he said. Experts say such testing would not require a nuclear explosion. The United States has adhered to a nuclear testing moratorium since 1992 and former President Bill Clinton signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996, but the Bush administration has made clear it will not ratify the treaty.
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