Key Nonproliferation Issues Await Action by Congress
As Congress returns from its August recess, conference work will soon begin on a number of key bills, including the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2003 (H.R. 4546), the Defense Appropriations Act for FY 2003 (H.R. 5010), and the State Department Authorization Act for FY 2002-2003 (H.R. 1646). The bills contain several important items (described below), related to strengthening and expanding U.S. programs to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FY 2003 (H.R. 4546)
Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Waiver Authority: Last April the Bush administration said that it could not certify Russia’s compliance with certain conditions that it must fulfill in order to receive CTR assistance through the Departments of Defense and State. As a result, work on negotiating new CTR projects ground to a halt for several months. A temporary waiver passed by Congress in early August allowed CTR work to resume, but will expire on October 1, 2002.
The Senate version of the Defense Authorization bill would authorize permanent waiver authority for restrictions on CTR assistance (Sec. 1204), while the House bill would provide the President with annual waiver authority through 2005 (Sec. 1308). The Bush administration is requesting a permanent waiver, and key administration officials have expressed support for the Senate bill. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 9, “I implore the Congress to give us a permanent waiver as soon as possible.” National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice wrote in a letter to Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), “We strongly support the waiver provision in the Senate version of the FY2003 Defense Authorization Bill, and have urged the conferees to adopt it.”
CTR Expansion: The Senate bill would allow up to $50 million of CTR funds to be spent on projects outside the former Soviet Union (Sec. 1203). The House bill explicitly prohibits the expenditure of CTR funds outside the former Soviet Union (Sec. 1307).
Domenici-Biden Legislation: The Senate bill includes an amendment offered by Senators Domenici, Biden, and others that would authorize the expenditure of $100 million in unspent Energy Department nonproliferation funds on new and expanded nonproliferation programs, including:
- $15 million for a new program on research and technology to respond to and protect against nuclear or radiological terrorism (Sec. 3155);
- $5 million for expanding the Materials Protection, Control, and Accounting program to countries outside the former Soviet Union, for returning research reactor fuel to countries of origin, and for establishing a Radiological Dispersal Device Materials Protection, Control, and Accounting Program (Sec. 3156);
- $40 million to accelerate the disposition of highly enriched uranium through options such as purchase and transfer of HEU to the United States or Russia for down-blending (Sec. 3157);
- $5 million for nuclear power plant protection; $10 million for developing new proliferation-resistant nuclear technologies; $15 million for assistance to International Atomic Energy Agency nuclear safety and security efforts (Sec. 3159); and
- $5 million to study options for assisting other countries in improving their export control programs covering materials that could be used in nuclear or radiological dispersal devices (Sec. 3160).
Components of the legislation, combined with the expansion of the CTR program, may create opportunities for future operations similar to the secret “Project Vinca” that took place at the end of August. The operation involved the return to Russia of more than 100 pounds of weapons-usable highly enriched uranium (HEU) located at the Vinca research reactor in Yugoslavia.
DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT FOR FY 2003 (H.R. 5010)
Waiver of Restrictions on Chemical Weapons Destruction: The National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2001 prohibits the use of CTR funds for construction of a chemical weapons destruction facility unless the Secretary of Defense certifies that Russia has met several conditions regarding its chemical weapons destruction program. These conditions are separate from the restrictions placed on CTR assistance in general.
The Senate bill includes an amendment (Sec. 8164) that would allow the President to waive the certification requirements on chemical weapons destruction activities if it is important to the security interests of the United States. The House bill does not contain corresponding language.
When asked by Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), if he supported permanent waiver authority for the CW certification restrictions, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld replied, “Indeed, I do.”
FOREIGN RELATIONS AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FY 2002-2003 (H.R. 1646)
Debt for Nonproliferation: The Senate version of the bill contains the “Russian Federal Debt Reduction for Nonproliferation Act of 2001,” which would allow the U.S. to retire Russian debt in exchange for new nonproliferation commitments. Companion legislation was offered in the House by Reps. Tauscher (D-CA), Schiff (D-CA), and McHugh (R-NY), but is not included in the House bill.
If enacted, debt for nonproliferation could provide an important new revenue stream for efforts to prevent the leakage of nuclear materials and expertise from Russia. It could also serve as a model for other G-8 countries that recently pledged a total of $10 billion in nonproliferation assistance to Russia over the next 10 years. Russia’s debt burden is approximately $147 billion, including $44 billion owed to the Paris Club, a group of 18 creditor nations that includes all members of the G-8.