Federal News Service - Hearing of the House Committee on International Relations on THe Bush Administration and Nonproliferation - Transcript- Part II

Federal News Service March 30, 2004 Tuesday
Copyright 2004 The Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service

March 30, 2004 Tuesday

HEADLINE: PANEL II OF A HEARING OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

SUBJECT: THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND NONPROLIFERATION: A NEW STRATEGY EMERGES

CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE HENRY HYDE (R-IL)

WITNESSES: HENRY SOKOLSKI, NONPROLIFERATION POLICY EDUCATION CENTER; JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE; VICTOR GILINSKY, FORMER COMMISSIONER, NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

LOCATION: 2172 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

BODY:

REP. ROS-LEHTINEN: And I also would now like to introduce our second panel. And I know that Mr. Rohrabacher was dying to get into that next round, so I will pass that on. Thank you, Mr. Bolton.

I'd like to welcome Mr. Henry Sokolski to today's hearing. Mr. Sokolski is the executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, a non-profit organization founded in 1994 to promote better understanding of proliferation issues.

During the first Bush administration, Mr. Sokolski served as deputy for nonproliferation policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and prior to that, in the Office of Net Assessment.

Mr. Sokolski has authored and edited a number of works on proliferation-related issues, including "Best Intentions: America's Campaign Against Strategic Weapons Proliferation."

And I'd like to add the committee's congratulations to Mr. Sokolski. He is getting married in London later this week and was good enough to change his travel plans to accommodate our schedule. He was taking Mr. Rohrabacher's advice of looking for that perfect spouse. Apparently Mr. Sokolski has found her. And I'm told that our thanks should properly go to his lovely fiancee, without whose gracious grant of permission he would not be here today. So we welcome you to the world of joint decision-making. Thank you very much.

Next we will hear from Joseph Cirin-you know, when I practiced it, I did it so well-Cirincione?

MR. CIRINCIONE: Perfect.

REP. ROS-LEHTINEN: Cirincione-thank you-a senior associate of-it sounds like Madonna's last name, doesn't it? Something like that --

MR. CIRINCIONE: (Inaudible.)

REP. ROS-LEHTINEN: -- senior associate director of the Nonproliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. Previously, he was a member of the professional staff of the House Committee on Armed Services and of the Committee of Government Operations. He also served as staff director of the Military Reform Caucus under Congressman Tom Ridge, as well as Congressman Charles Bennett. He is the author of "Deadly Arsenals: Tracking the Weapons of Mass Destruction." And we welcome you today.

Victor Gilinsky was commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the Ford and Carter administrations. He has held senior positions at the Atomic Energy Agency and the RAND Corporation, among others.

Currently Mr. Gilinsky is a consultant to energy firms, principally in the area of civilian nuclear power. Mr. Gilinsky earned his bachelor's degree in engineering physics at Cornell and his doctorate in physics at the California Institute of Technology. And we welcome you to our committee.

We're honored to have all of you appear today. Please proceed with your five-minute summary of your statement, and the full statement will be made part of the record.

Mr. Sokolski. Congratulations. Mazeltov.

END