http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Sen._Clinton_introduces_bill_to_create_1207.html
Sen. Clinton introduces bill to create White House 'nuclear terror' adviser
Here follows the text of a press release by the office of Sen. Hillary
Clinton, announcing the introduction today of a bill to both houses of
Congress entitled The Nuclear Terrorism Prevention Act of 2006. Among
other things, the bill calls for the creation of a senior adviser on
nuclear terrorism to the President.
#
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
#
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