Congressional Action on Non-Proliferation: 2004 in Review
October 21, 2004
As Americans prepare to vote in the Presidential election of 2004, attention to foreign affairs and international security issues is more pronounced than ever. Following the September 11th attacks, the war in Iraq, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have taken center stage in campaign rhetoric and in the media. Many Members of Congress have also expressed repeatedly that proliferation of WMD is the most dangerous threat to Americans today. Congressional action in 2004 on nonproliferation issues, however, has done little more than sustain the status quo in addressing this threat.HEARINGS
The House and Senate held a total of 16 hearings on issues directly related to nonproliferation. Another seven hearings related to Department of Energy atomic energy defense activities and projected worldwide threats to U.S. national security were held in 2004 (see Annex I). Congress made a concerted effort to stay informed; but, in the end, did little to change or enhance the response to this elevated threat.
ON SITE VISITS
Members of Congress and Congressional staff traveled throughout the world in 2004 on fact-finding missions. Yet, few visits were made to foreign countries where proliferation concerns are a top priority. Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA) were the most active and visited Russia and other former Soviet states to explore obstacles to cooperative threat reduction efforts. Mr. Weldon also led a delegation of six members of Congress to Libya after that country’s historic agreement to abandon its nuclear programs. Also, a small delegation of Senate staff was permitted into North Korea for talks with senior officials. Aside from these examples, attention to proliferation concerns during Congressional delegations abroad was nearly absent.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Of 14 independent bills, Congressional resolutions or treaty documents introduced in the House or Senate on nonproliferation issues, only two passed (see Annex II). Several additional proposals were successfully added as amendments or included as original language in larger bills. In April, the Senate approved the International Atomic Energy Agency’s “Additional Protocol” to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement, allowing U.S. ratification of the Protocol which strengthens international safeguards over nuclear technology. As one of the five declared nuclear states, however, the United States reserves its right to refuse access or data collection at its nuclear weapons facilities. The Additional Protocol was ratified as a treaty document. The Senate failed to take up implementing legislation for the Additional Protocol this year.
The second measure that passed was a nonbinding resolution that called on Iran to cease its efforts to produce nuclear weapons and come into compliance under the NPT and its other obligations. Throughout 2004, the volatile nuclear situations in Iran and North Korea have grown more and more dangerous. Yet, despite heightened rhetoric about these threats, Congress has not been deeply engaged in either problem.
Congress did approve an amendment by Senator Domenici (R-NM) to the Fiscal Year 2005 Defense Authorization bill, which calls for improved and expedited efforts to remove and secure fissile materials from vulnerable sites around the world. The Secretary of Energy is authorized to expend funds from the Department’s defense nuclear nonproliferation budget to collect, transport, and lock down materials from research reactors and other facilities to keep them out of the hands of terrorists. The legislation also allows for expedited security upgrades at sites where materials will remain. This is a first step in a “global cleanout” process that experts say, with adequate funding, can and must be completed in four years, rather than 10 years as proposed by the Secretary of Energy.
Other measures, proposed by Congressman Curt Weldon and included in the Defense Authorization bill, are programs promoting non-weapons-related employment for scientists, engineers, and technicians formerly engaged in activities to develop weapons of mass destruction in the Caucasus and Central Asia and a program establishing Nuclear Nonproliferation Fellowships, which are exchange fellowships for scientists employed at nonproliferation research laboratories of the Russian Federation and the United States. A third provision requires the Secretary of Defense to submit a report on current and future collaborative measures by the United States and Russia to reduce the danger of an unauthorized or accidental launch of a nuclear ballistic missile.
Legislation that was introduced this year but is unlikely to be acted upon in the 108th Congress includes a bill by Representatives John Spratt, Ellen Tauscher, and Martin Meehan that would implement the 9/11 Commission’s nonproliferation recommendations. Among its provisions, the bill calls for creating a director of nonproliferation within the White House to oversee all the various U.S. programs addressing the threat of weapons of mass destruction. The bill remains in the House International Relations Committee. Congresswoman Tauscher also offered the bill’s language as an amendment to the House’s version of intelligence reform legislation, but the amendment was ruled as non-germane.
Among the Congressional resolutions that did not come to a vote this year was a measure introduced in the House by Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) which calls for the adoption of a Sensible, Multilateral American Response to Terrorism (“SMART”) Security Platform for the 21st Century. The platform sets forth ways to prevent future acts of terrorism by addressing its root causes, stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction and reducing proliferation of conventional weapons. The resolution gained 49 co-sponsors but remains in the House International Relations Committee.
NONPROLIFERATION SPENDING
In the authorization and appropriations process for FY 2005, the House and Senate approved the President’s request for nonproliferation spending by the Department of Defense and are on track to approve requests for the Departments of Energy and State. The spending bills provide few increases over previous years, and decrease funding for Cooperative Threat Reduction at the Department of Defense by 9.2%. Spending at the Department of Energy is increased by 1%, pending final passage of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill. This bill has not been considered by the Senate and is likely to be included in an omnibus bill for FY 2005. (The omnibus spending bill would roll together the nine remaining appropriations bills that Congress has not yet passed for FY2005 into one large package bill.) A 4% increase is requested and expected for the Department of State, pending final passage of the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, versions of which have been passed by both the House and Senate but differences have not been reconciled by a conference committee. The bill is likely to be included in the omnibus bill for FY 2005.
Total requested spending across the three departments is just under $2 billion. This amount is still considerably under the $3 billion-a-year bench mark, set by a high-level Department of Energy Task Force in 2001, to adequately address the threat. At current levels of funding, it will take another 13 years to secure vulnerable materials and weapons in the former Soviet Union alone.
See summaries of past and current nonproliferation spending requests
CONCLUSION
The second session of the 108th Congress was held against a backdrop of unprecedented attention to global threats from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Rhetoric from both the Congress and the Bush Administration has reflected this urgent priority. However, programmatic activity and spending levels have not risen to meet the rhetoric nor are they adequate to address the threat. Congress has worked to stay informed, but has done little more than maintain the status quo on spending for nonproliferation activities. Even with the success of “global cleanout” legislation, few key programs were introduced or implemented this year. In addition, Congress did not keep the pressure on the Administration to resolve critical situations in North Korea or Iran or to work with Russian officials to overcome roadblocks that are slowing cooperative threat reduction efforts.
It is imperative for U.S. and global security that the 109th Congress, when it convenes in January 2005, makes nonproliferation an urgent priority through concrete action.
ANNEX I: 2004 HEARINGS ON NONPROLIFERATION ISSUES
Jan. 21: Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hearing on North Korean Nuclear Developments with Sig Hecker, former director, Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Jan. 29: Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hearing on Ratification of the “Additional Protocol” to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement with National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Linton Brooks, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Peter Lichtenbaum, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation Susan Burk and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy Mark Esper.
March 2: Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hearing on The North Korean Nuclear Calculus: Beyond the Six Power Talks with James Kelly, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Amb. Robert Gallucci, Georgetown University; Terence Taylor, International Institute for Strategic Studies; Victor Cha, Georgetown University and Tom Malinowksi, Human Rights Watch.
March 9: House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, hearing on Nonproliferation: Assessing Missile Technology Export Controls with Andrew Feickert, Congressional Research Service; Joseph A. Christoff, Director of International Affairs and Trade Team at the U.S. General Accounting Office; Dennis M. Gormley, Senior Fellow at the Monterey Institute of International Studies; Matthew S. Borman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export Administration at the Department of Commerce; Robert W. Maggi, Managing Director of Defense Trade Controls at the Department of State and Lt. Gen. Tome H. Walters, Jr., USAF, Defense Security Cooperation Agency at the Department of Defense.
March 10: Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, hearing on Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Programs of the Energy Department and the Cooperative Threat Reduction Programs of the Defense Department with Paul Longsworth, Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, National Nuclear Security Administration and Lisa Bronson, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Technology Security Policy and Counterproliferation.
March 10: Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hearing on Nonproliferation and Arms Control: Strategic Choices with Ashton Carter, Harvard University; Arnold Kanter, The Scowcroft Group and Dr. William Perry, Stanford University.
March 10: House International Relations Committee, hearing on Weapons of Mass Destruction, Terrorism, Human Rights and the Future of U.S.-Libyan Relations with William Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; Paula DeSutter, Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance; Patrick Clawson, Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Ray Takeyh, National Defense University.
March 17: House Armed Services Committee, hearing on Combating the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction with Gary Milhollin, Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control; Ashton Carter, Harvard University and Larry Wortzel, the Heritage Foundation’s Davis Institute for International Policy Studies.
March 30: House International Relations Committee, hearing on The Bush Administration and Nonproliferation: A New Strategy Emerges with John Bolton, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security; Joe Cirincione, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Henry Sokolski, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center and Victor Gilinsky, Ph.D.
May 18: House International Relations Committee, hearing on Whether China Should Join the Nuclear Suppliers Group with Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation John Wolf.
June 15: Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hearing on Sea Island and Beyond: Status Report on the Global Partnership Against Weapons of Mass Destruction with Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton and National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Linton Brooks.
June 23: House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, hearing on Iranian proliferation: Implications for Terrorists, their State Sponsors, and U.S. Counter-Proliferation Policy with Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Bolton and Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman.
June 23: Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Management, the Budget, and International Security, hearing on International Smuggling Networks: Weapons of Mass Destruction Counterproliferation Initiatives with Peter Lichtenbaum, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration; Mark T. Fitzpatrick , Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation Controls; David Albright, Institute for Science and International Security; Michael Moodie, Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute; Leonard S. Spector, Center for Nonproliferation Studies and Baker Spring, Heritage Foundation
July 15: Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hearing on The Latest Round of Six-Way Talks Regarding Nuclear Weapons in North Korea with Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly; Joseph DeTrani, Special Envoy for Six-Party Talks and Ashton Carter, Harvard University.
Week of Aug. 2: Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, hearings on the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission with Chairman Thomas Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton. (The report recommended expansion of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program.)
Sept. 22: House International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Human Rights, hearing on Disarmament of Libya’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, with Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance Paula DeSutter.
RELATED HEARINGS AND EVENTS
January 22: House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation meeting with Dr. Siegfried Hecker, former director of Los Alamos National Lab, and Ambassador Charles “Jack” Pritchard, Special Envoy to North Korea under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, to discuss Observations about Plutonium Reprocessing in North Korea on their January 8, 2004 visit to the Nuclear Scientific Research Center in Yongbyon, North Korea.
Feb. 24: Senate Intelligence Committee, hearing on Current and Projected Threats to U.S. National Security with CIA director George Tenet, Defense Intelligence Agency director Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby and FBI director Robert Mueller.
March 9: Senate Armed Services Committee, hearing on Current and Future Worldwide Threats to National Security with CIA director George Tenet and Defense Intelligence Agency director Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby.
March 18: House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, hearing on The Energy Department’s Atomic Energy Defense Activities with Linton Brooks, Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration and Jessie Roberson, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management.
March 23: Senate Armed Services Committee, hearing on The Atomic Energy Defense Activities of the Energy Department with Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.
March 24: Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, hearing on Strategic Forces and Capabilities with Linton Brooks, National Nuclear Security Administration and Adm. James Ellis, U.S. Strategic Command.
April 27: House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation meeting with Ambassador Henrik Salander, Secretary General of the Hans Blix Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (an independent commission established by the government of Sweden), Ambassador Jonathan Dean, former U.S. representative to NATO-Warsaw Pact force reduction talks and Dr. Ivan Oelrich of the Federation of American Scientists, to discuss The Proposals in President Bush’s February 11, 2004 Speech on WMD Proliferation.
May 11: House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, hearing on DOE Nuclear Security: What are the Challenges, and What’s Next?, with Kyle McSlarrow, Deputy Secretary of Energy; Robin Nazzaro, General Accounting Office and Danielle Brian, The Project on Government Oversight.
June 22: House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, hearing on Nuclear security: Can DOE Meet Facility Security Requirements? with Robin Nazzaro and James Noel, General Accounting Office; Danielle Brian, Project on Government Oversight; Energy Department Undersecretary for Energy, Science, and Environment David Garman and Glenn Podonsky, Energy Department Office of Security and Safety Performance.
August 10: House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation meeting with Anne Harrington, Richard M. Jarvis, and Dr. Alex Dehgan, Office of Proliferation Threat Reduction, U.S. Department of State, on What are Iraqi Weapons Scientists Doing Now? Cooperative Threat Reduction Comes to Baghdad.
ANNEX II: NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION LEGISLATION INTRODUCED IN 2004
(Does not include umbrella authorization and appropriations bills which encompass budget requests for U.S. nonproliferation programs, but does include specific, relevant amendments)
1. H.CON.RES.392 : Calling for the adoption of a Sensible, Multilateral American Response to Terrorism (“SMART”) Security Platform for the 21st Century.
Sponsor: Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA); introduced 3/18/2004; 49 cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 3/18/2004 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
2. H.R.4021 : To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to require that only countries that have a democratic form of government and that support United States nonproliferation objectives may be designated as major non-NATO allies for purposes of that Act and the Arms Export Control Act.
Sponsor: Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY); introduced 3/24/2004; 2 cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 3/24/2004 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
3. H.CON.RES.398 : A concurrent resolution expressing the concern of Congress over Iran’s development of the means to produce nuclear weapons.
Sponsor: Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL); introduced 3/25/2004; 51 cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 7/22/2004 Passed/agreed to in Senate. Status: Resolution agreed to in Senate.
4. Treaty Doc. 107-7 : The Protocol to the Agreement of the International Atomic Energy Agency Regarding Safeguards in the United States. Considered 3/31/2004. Approved for ratification.
5. S.2310 : A bill to promote the national security of the United States by facilitating the removal of potential nuclear weapons materials from vulnerable sites around the world, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); introduced 4/8/2004; 5 cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 4/8/2004 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services. (Replaced by Domenici Amendment S.AMDT.3192.)
6. H.R.4212 : To promote the national security of the United States by facilitating the removal of potential nuclear weapons materials from vulnerable sites around the world, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA); introduced 4/22/2004; 8 cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 4/22/2004 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
7. S.AMDT.3192 to S.2400 (Defense Authorization bill) To accelerate the removal or security of fissile materials, radiological materials, and related equipment at vulnerable sites worldwide.
Sponsor: Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM); introduced 5/19/2004; 11 cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 5/19/2004 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 3192 agreed to in Senate by Voice Vote.
8. H.AMDT.628 to H.R.4614 (Energy and Water Appropriations bill) Amendment sought to increase funding in the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation account.
Sponsor: Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM); introduced 6/25/2004; no cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 6/25/2004 House amendment not agreed to. Status: On agreeing to the Wilson (NM) amendment (A006) Failed by recorded vote: 163 - 224 (Roll no. 322).
9. S.2665 : A bill to strengthen and enhance the prevention and prosecution of crimes using weapons of mass destruction, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX); introduced 7/15/2004; no cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 7/15/2004 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
10. S.2664 : A bill to combat terrorism, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX); introduced 7/15/2004; no cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 7/15/2004 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
11. S.2681 : A bill to establish a program to support a transition to democracy in Iran.
Sponsor: Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA); introduced 7/16/2004; 2 cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 7/16/2004 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
12. H.R.4965 : To impose sanctions on foreign entities that engage in certain nuclear proliferation activities, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA); introduced 7/22/2004; 9 cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 7/22/2004 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
13. H.R.5066 : To strengthen and enhance the prevention and prosecution of crimes using weapons of mass destruction, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX); introduced 9/13/2004; no cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 9/20/2004 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Chairman.
14. H.R.5118 : To combat terrorism, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX); introduced 9/21/2004; no cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 9/21/2004 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and International Relations.
15. H.R.5161 : To provide for counterproliferation measures. Sponsor: Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA); introduced 9/28/2004; 2 cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 9/28/2004 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
16. H.R.5193 : To hold the current regime in Iran accountable for its threatening behavior and to support a transition to democracy in Iran.
Sponsor: Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL); introduced 9/30/2004; 27 cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 9/30/2004 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
17. S.AMDT.3859 to S.2845** To provide that an authorized national intelligence center address each of the nuclear terrorism threats, chemical terrorism threats, and biological terrorism threats confronting the United States.
Sponsor: Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM); introduced 9/30/2004; no cosponsors
Latest Major Action: 10/4/2004 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 3859 as modified agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.
** The House and Senate have both considered bills to reform the intelligence community (H.R. 10 and S. 2845) and to implement the recommendations of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (H.R. 5040 and S. 2774). Both sets of bills include provisions for improving nonproliferation efforts. Passage of these bills is not expected in the 108th Congress.