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Kerry Outlines National Security Agenda By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), the presumptive Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidential election, said yesterday that if elected, his “No. 1 security goal” would be to prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, March 30). In a speech in Seattle, Kerry outlined his national security agenda, which he said would place a high priority on creating and using alliances with other countries around the world to accomplish U.S. goals. Such alliances, Kerry said, were especially needed to combat the threat posed by terrorist groups. “Because al-Qaeda is a network with many branches, we have to take the fight to the enemy on every continent — smartly. And we have to enlist other countries in that cause,” Kerry said. He criticized the Bush administration’s handling of the war in Iraq and its aftermath, which he said “undermined the legacy of generations of American leadership” and damaged U.S. relations with other countries. “They’ve looked to force before exhausting diplomacy; they bullied when they should have persuaded. They’ve gone it alone when they should have assembled a whole team. They have hoped for the best when they should have prepared for the worst. They’ve made America less safe than we should be in a dangerous world,” Kerry said of the White House. In addition, more needs to be done to prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, Kerry said, adding that such a scenario posed “the single gravest threat to our security.” He issued a warning to rogue states and terrorist groups that if elected, he would respond to a WMD attack on the United States with a severe military response. “Any potential adversary should know that we will defend ourselves against the possibility of an attack by unconventional arms. And if such a strike does occur, as commander in chief I will respond with overwhelming and devastating force,” Kerry said. He also said that he would develop a “layered strategy” of nonmilitary measures to stem WMD proliferation. Such measures would involve the creation of a “global initiative” to secure existing stockpiles of nuclear weapons material and control their production, changes in international treaties, increased intelligence sharing, new conditions for economic sanctions and efforts to interdict illegal shipments. “The key is for America to lead, to build an international consensus for early preventative action so that states don’t even think of taking the nuclear road and potential traffickers in nuclear/biological technology fear the consequences of getting caught,” Kerry said. Several of the nonproliferation measures outlined in Kerry’s speech, however, appear similar to those already proposed or implemented by the Bush administration. For example, the Energy Department this week announced creation of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, which would work to recover U.S.- and Russian-origin fresh and spent highly enriched uranium fuel from research reactors around the world. In a speech in February, President George W. Bush proposed that members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a multilateral export control regime that governs trade in nuclear technology, refuse to sell enrichment and reprocessing technologies to any country that does not already possess full-scale, functioning enrichment and reprocessing plants. In addition, the administration launched the Proliferation Security Initiative last year, a multilateral effort designed to interdict shipments of WMD-related cargo. The Bush presidential campaign did not return calls for comment today on Kerry’s speech. During a press conference call yesterday, though, Senators George Allen (R-Va.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said the address offered no new proposals. The speech was “a pompous, ponderous pontification espousing more prevaricated political pap,” said Allen, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Kerry said yesterday that he would give a separate address within the next several days that would include “specific details” on his nonproliferation proposals.
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