|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Calls for New Nonproliferation Approaches By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry Wednesday called for new approaches to combating the spread of nuclear weapons, warning that the possibility of terrorists obtaining such a weapon is “the gravest danger facing our nation today” (see GSN, Dec. 11). In a speech before the Asia Society in New York, Perry, who served as defense secretary in the Clinton administration, outlined several approaches to preventing rogue states and terrorist organizations from obtaining nuclear weapons. While offering tentative support for the Bush administration’s counterproliferation policy of pre-emptive military action, Perry said that such an approach was not fully effective. In his remarks, Perry warned that a terrorist group such as al-Qaeda would detonate a nuclear weapon within the United States if they were able to obtain one. He also predicted that unless more work was done to prevent nuclear proliferation, such weapons were likely to be used either in a regional conflict or against the United States “before this decade is over.” “This is a harsh judgment, but it is the most conclusive judgment I can make based on the evidence we have so far unless we can stop this tide of proliferation. The acid test of America’s national security programs should be, do they make that catastrophic outcome less likely? In my judgment, our current programs do not pass that test. They do not pass that test,” Perry said. According to Perry, approaches used during the Cold War to stem nuclear proliferation, such as the strategy of deterrence, are no longer effective. “Deterrence does not work against fanatics who are willing, even eager, to die for their cause,” he said. Perry also offered only tentative support for the Bush administration’s counterproliferation policy of pre-emptive military action, as demonstrated by Operation Iraqi Freedom (see GSN, Dec. 9). While saying such action “is and must be one of the options open to the United States,” he warned that such military action would entail casualties, political costs and could have unforeseen consequences. In addition, Perry said that any decision to undertake a pre-emptive war must be based on “solid intelligence,” which is often difficult to obtain on WMD programs (see GSN, Dec. 5). He noted errors made by the U.S. intelligence community in assessing the WMD capabilities of prewar Iraq — assessments that so far have been largely unconfirmed by coalition forces searching for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The fault of U.S. intelligence to accurately assess rogue states’ WMD capabilities rests more on the nature of WMD programs themselves than with the intelligence community, Perry said. “The facilities involved in such programs can be small, decentralized and without a distinctive physical signature. A full-scale biological weapon program could fit into this room,” he told the gathered audience. “We may expect continuing difficulty in making a confident assessment of nuclear or biological programs in nations that are trying to keep those programs covert. As a consequence, when confronted with what we believe to be a covert nuclear program, we will generally not have the solid intelligence that is required and that will be rightly demanded by the American public before we take any conclusive action,” Perry said. In fact, the lack of success in finding evidence of large-scale Iraqi WMD efforts could result in the U.S. public failing to support pre-emptive military action even when it is necessary, he said. New Nonproliferation ApproachesIn his call for new nonproliferation strategies, Perry singled out for praise the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program, also known as the Nunn-Lugar program after its founders, former Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.). Through the CTR program, the United States supports efforts to secure and dismantle WMD materials in the former Soviet Union. Calling the CTR program “the most important new tool” the United States has to prevent proliferation, Perry called for its acceleration and expansion. Last month, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill, which included a provision to provide an initial $50 million for Nunn-Lugar projects conducted outside the former Soviet Union. In a Nov. 19 speech in Washington, Lugar called on Congress to provide additional funding for expanded Nunn-Lugar efforts and to provide the president with a permanent authority to waive funding certification requirements (see GSN, Nov. 20). “Senator Lugar’s proposal deserves our full support and, given the uphill battle it faces, is in desperate need of it,” Perry said Wednesday. In addition, Perry also called for the closure of a “loophole” in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that allows countries to potentially develop nuclear weapons under the cover of establishing a civilian nuclear power program. The nuclear weapon-states should be give the authority to control all nuclear fuel cycle activities to prevent non-nuclear states from obtaining weapon-grade materials under the pretext of creating civilian reactor fuel and then withdrawing from the NPT, Perry said. He also said that the International Atomic Energy Agency should be given expanded authority to conduct inspections, including challenge inspections, to verify compliance with such a system. Earlier this week, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei also restated his support for increased multilateral control over fuel cycle activities, such as through a new protocol to the NPT itself (see GSN, Dec. 8). “It is not enough that each country now has the so-called sovereign right to develop plutonium and sit on it ... and have highly enriched uranium,” ElBaradei was quoted by AP as having said in prepared remarks. “What I’m looking (for) is a better multinational control over the sensitive parts of the fuel cycle,” he said. “None of this will be easy, just as it was not easy during the Cold War to formulate the strategy and provide the leadership that avoided a nuclear holocaust,” Perry said Wednesday. “But if we fail, and if terror groups are able to detonate nuclear bombs in our cities, we will forever after be asking ourselves why we did not take the timely action to avert the catastrophe. And if we succeed, our children and our grandchildren will thank us,” he added. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Nunn is chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and Richard Lugar serves on NTI’s Board of Directors. NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by National Journal Group.]
| ||||||||||
Back to top
