Surveillance law lets US ratify nuclear terrorism treaties
Source: Associated Press
Tucked into the surveillance bill that became law was a little-noticed section that will let the United States complete ratification of two long-stalled treaties aimed at stopping a frightening scenario: terrorists wielding radioactive bombs.
"Today, nearly 2,000 metric tons of weapons-usable nuclear materials remain spread across hundreds of sites around the globe — some of it poorly secured," said former Sen. Sam Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, an organization in Washington that works on the issue. "We know that to get the materials needed to build a bomb, terrorists will not necessarily go where there is the most material. They will go where the material is most vulnerable."
When President Barack Obama signed the surveillance law last Tuesday, attention focused on how it ends the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' telephone records. The last drafts of that legislation, however, included 15 paragraphs permitting the U.S. to formally endorse two nuclear terrorism treaties after years of delay.
The Senate ratified both treaties in 2008, but it has taken seven years to pass legislation needed to bring U.S. law in line with them. That's what was needed for the U.S. to complete the ratification process.
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