Clinton, Tauscher Introduce Legislation to Help Prevent Nuclear Proliferation, Safeguard Nuclear Materials

Clinton, Tauscher Introduce Legislation to Help Prevent Nuclear Proliferation, Safeguard Nuclear Materials

Clinton Calls on Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees to Step Up Focus on Non-Proliferation Efforts

Washington, DC - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) today introduced legislation in both chambers of Congress to help prevent nuclear terrorism. The Nuclear Terrorism Prevention Act of 2006 would create a senior advisor to the President to focus solely on preventing nuclear terrorism. The bill would also require the President to develop a comprehensive plan to work with the international community to secure the nuclear materials that terrorists could use to build a nuclear weapon. Senator Clinton announced that she would introduce this legislation in a major address to the Council on Foreign Relations on October 31. In addition, Senator Clinton wrote today to the incoming chairmen of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, urging that they hold hearings in the next Congress to discuss how best to address the serious cracks in the international nonproliferation regime, with the aim of creating a new nonproliferation blueprint for the security of the United States and the world.

"The possibility that terrorists may acquire and use a nuclear weapon against the United States is an urgent threat to the security of our nation and the international community," said Senator Clinton. "We must do everything in our power, working in concert with other nations, to make that these dangerous materials are as secure as possible in order to prevent such an attack. This legislation is an important step toward achieving that goal."

"There's no larger threat to global security than loose nuclear materials in the hands of a terrorist or rogue nation. The question is, what are we doing about it? For too long, the answer has been not nearly enough. Our legislation raises the level of commitment to match the threat head-on, by creating the post of a Senior Advisor to the President dedicated to preventing nuclear terrorism and requires the administration to work with the international community to develop specific nuclear standards," said Representative Tauscher.

The Nuclear Terrorism Prevention Act of 2006 legislation introduced today would create the post of Senior Advisor to the President for Preventing Nuclear Terrorism. The advisor will be responsible for developing a strategy to prevent nuclear terrorism, coordinating the efforts of the Departments of Energy, Defense, State and other agencies. The advisor will lead efforts to work with the international community to develop specific standards for the security of weapons-usable nuclear material and assist countries in meeting these standards. The advisor will also be responsible for providing Congress with a yearly report on all sites with weapons-usable material, plans for securing or removing material from these sites, details of country's efforts to secure their own weapons-usable material and an update on efforts to create specific international standards for the protection of these materials. The bill would also authorize an additional $50 million for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) to encourage countries to replace highly enriched uranium (HEU) with less proliferation-sensitive low enriched uranium (LEU).

Senator Clinton's letter to the Chairmen of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees follows:

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Ranking Member
Committee on Foreign Relations
439 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Carl Levin
Ranking Member
Committee on Armed Services
228 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Biden and Senator Levin,

Congratulations on being named chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, respectively. Your chairmanships will provide an opportunity for those committees to exercise oversight and consider policy issues that are critically important to the United States national security.

For the past 40 years, the United States has provided strong leadership in building the network of treaties and expectations that have been largely successful in preventing states from developing nuclear weapons. The United States Senate has played a significant, bipartisan role in these efforts. Unfortunately, the international nonproliferation regime has begun to show serious cracks, as exemplified by North Korea's recent nuclear test and Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons. Repairing this system is absolutely vital to our national security. I believe that the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, and the United States Senate as a whole, have a responsibility to confront this challenge head-on.

As the proliferation challenges of Iran and North Korea continue to make headlines, there are also non-state crises that gravely threaten our security, ranging from al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups that have explicitly stated their desire to acquire a nuclear weapon, to the A.Q. Khan proliferation network that stretched from Europe, to the Middle East, to the Far East. It is essential that the Senate take every possible step to prevent terrorists from acquiring a nuclear weapon and ensure that no new black markets for nuclear weapons related equipment are created.

Unfortunately, our nation's influence as a leader in nonproliferation has been eroded by this Administration's actions. The abandonment of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Administration's interest in developing new nuclear weapons, have hurt our standing within the global nonproliferation community. We must restore our nation's status as a leader in preventing proliferation worldwide. I believe that the committees you chair can help propel that effort forward.

In addition to discussing the issues above, I believe that the Senate can play an important role by examining proposals such as the guaranteed supply of nuclear fuel and a nuclear fuel bank.

I ask that the Senate Armed Services and Senate Foreign Relations Committees work together in the 110th Congress to schedule a series of hearings to discuss the future of the international nonproliferation regime with the aim of creating a new blueprint for our shared security.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

CC:

Senator John W. Warner, Chairman
Senator Richard G. Lugar, Chairman

http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=266661&&