Kerry Press Release: Kerry Statement on Reducing Nuclear Threats

[Skinner]

For Immediate Release
July 12, 2004

Kerry Statement on Reducing Nuclear Threats

Boston, MA - Senator John Kerry released the following statement today in response to the President’s speech in Tennessee:

“The gravest threat we face is terrorists or hostile states getting their hands on a nuclear weapon. Since that dark day in September, have we reached out to our allies and forged an urgent global effort to ensure that nuclear weapons and materials are secured? Have we taken every step we should to stop North Korea and Iran’s nuclear programs? Have we restructured our intelligence agencies and given them the resources they need to keep our country safe?”

“The honest answer, in each of these areas, is that we have done too little, often too late, and even cut back our efforts. It’s not enough to give speeches – America will only be safer when we achieve results. The facts speak for themselves -- there was less nuclear weapons materials secured in the two years after 9/11 than in the two years before. North Korea has reportedly quadrupled its nuclear weapons capability in the past year. Iran is developing a nuclear weapons capability. Afghanistan has become a forgotten front in the war on terror.

“As president, my number one security goal will be to prevent terrorists from gaining weapons of mass murder. I have proposed an ambitious and aggressive plan for dramatically reducing the threats from nuclear terrorism -- we will greatly accelerate work to secure nuclear materials at risk and invest the time and leadership needed to address the nuclear threats in North Korea and Iran. I will appoint a National Director of Intelligence so that there is one individual with responsibility and accountability for intelligence operations.”

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Fact Sheet on Bush and Nuclear Terrorism Attached

For more information on Kerry’s plan, visit http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0601b.html

Paid for by John Kerry for President, Inc.

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Fact Sheet on Bush and Nuclear Terrorism

I. An Insufficient Effort to Secure Weapons Materials in the Former Soviet Union

The Threat Was Made Clear In a Major Report Published Just 10 Days Before George Bush Took Office: “The most urgent unmet national security threat to the United States today is the danger that weapons of mass destruction or weapons-usable material in Russia could be stolen and sold to terrorists or hostile nation states and used against American troops or citizens at home.” (“A Report Card on the Department of Energy’s Nonproliferation Programs with Russia,” Bi-partisan Task Force report to the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, 1/10/01)

Candidate Bush: I am Going to Continue to Fund Nunn-Lugar. “(W)hen I'm the president, I am going to continue to fund Nunn-Lugar to make sure that we work with the Russians to bring certainty in that part of the world. You see, the Russians have got to understand the post-Cold War era is one where we need to cooperate to bring peace. (South Carolina Republican debate, February 15, 2000)

Yet, the Bush Administration Has Requested Less Money Than the Clinton Administration in Real Terms. “On average, the Bush Administration requests for nuclear threat reduction spending over FY 2002-2005 have been less, in real terms, than the last Clinton Administration request, made long before the 9/11 attacks occurred.” (Bunn and Wier, “Securing the Bomb: An Agenda for Action,” Harvard University, May 2004 x-xi)

Most of the Job Remains to Be Done. ‘The 35 tons of material secured last year, for example, represents less than six percent of the estimated 600 tons of potentially vulnerable HEU and separated plutonium outside of nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union.’ (Securing the Bomb, 3)

Up to 13 Years to Finish the Job at This Pace. ‘If progress continued at last year’s rate of 35 tons per year, it would take 13 years to finish the job – just for the material in the former Soviet Union, leaving aside the insecure stockpiles in dozens of other countries throughout the world’ (Securing the Bomb, 4)

II. A Lack of Leadership, Delay and Inadequate Pace for Global Cleanout

An Immediate Threat. “When both fresh and unirradiated fuel are included, there are probably dozens of locations around the world where enough material for a bomb exists at a single site – and given the terrorists’ demonstrated ability to carry out multiple coordinated attacks, the danger that they might strike more than one site to get their material cannot be discounted.” (Securing the Bomb, viii)

Only Modest Presidential Attention. ‘The cornerstone of an effective response is intensive cooperation with states around the world, to secure these stockpiles before terrorists and criminals can reach them. Unfortunately, focused on Iraq and other matters, the President has devoted only modest attention to moving such cooperation forward. It has been treated as something that is important, but not urgent – an issue that can largely be left to specialists.’ (Securing the bomb, 2)

Lack of Leadership and Coordination. ‘(T)here is literally no one in the U.S. Government with full-time responsibility for leading the many efforts in several Cabinet departments related to keeping nuclear weapons and materials out of terrorist hands.’ (Securing the Bomb, 6)

The Result: A Deadly Gap. But, the just released Harvard study found: “There remains a potentially deadly gap between the urgency of the threat and the scope and pace of U.S. efforts to address it.” (Securing the Bomb, x)

A Decline In Amount Secured Since 9/11. ‘(T)he amount of nuclear material secured in the two years immediately following the 9/11 attacks was actually less than the amount secured in the two years immediately before the attacks.’ (Securing the Bomb, executive summary)

A Delayed Response That Will Take Too Long. The Administration’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative – announced May 26, 2004 -- would not complete repatriation of all spent fuel until 2014 – and it would do nothing to deal with nuclear materials and warheads in Russia. “(W)e will take all steps necessary to accelerate and complete the repatriation of all U.S.-origin research reactor spent fuel under our existing program from locations around the world within a decade.” (Spencer Abraham, Speech to IAEA, 5/26/04)

A Woefully Disproportionate Approach. "Even as stated, the scale and the effort and the speed at which things are proposed to be done ... is still woefully disproportionate to the challenge that he (Abraham) rightly states." (Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, AP, 5/26/04)

III. A Failed Strategy for North Korea and Iran

Bush Inaction Freed North Korea to Produce More Nuclear Weapons. The Administration insisted it would not engage North Korea until it completely and verifiably dismantled its nuclear program, but “Seeking a comprehensive solution while eschewing interim steps grants a gift to the bomb-builders: time. Since 2002, North Korea has reopened its program, separated up to five or six bombs' worth of plutonium, and produced fresh plutonium every day in its restarted 5-megawatt reactor.” (Poneman, Boston Globe, July 7, 2004)

Intelligence Estimate of North Korean Capabilities Rise. ‘The United States is preparing to significantly raise its estimate of the number of nuclear weapons held by North Korea, from "possibly two" to at least eight, according to U.S. officials involved in the preparation of the report. The report, expected to be completed within a month, would reflect a new intelligence consensus on North Korea's nuclear capabilities after that country's decision last year to restart a nuclear reactor and plutonium-reprocessing facility that had been frozen under a 1994 agreement….The increase in the estimate would underscore the strides North Korea has made in the past year as the Bush administration struggled to respond diplomatically while waging a war against Iraq in an unsuccessful effort to search for such weapons there.’ (Kessler, Washington Post, April 28, 2004)

When They Finally Act, Administration Officials Discount Threat. “Mr. Bush's aides say that they are making progress, and that there is no use publicly denouncing North Korea while diplomacy continues. If the country already has a few nuclear weapons, they say, a few more would not make a strategic difference.” Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger’s response to this lax attitude was ''It's an untenable argument. There is a difference between two or three and eight, and it's called the market in weapons for global terrorists.'' (­New York Times, April 13, 2004)

Veiled Threats of Military Action in Iran. Undersecretary of State John Bolton commented in September 2003 that “Iran is entering the ‘danger zone.’ Once you have it (nuclear capability), you are secure. But when you are close, this is a moment of great vulnerability. This is when there could be a preemptive war that would have broad support.” (Quoted in Peterson, Christian Science Monitor, September 19, 2003)

Intense Rhetoric But No Plan. The Administration has urged Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warning that the international community will not “sit idly by” while Tehran acquires nuclear weapons. Otherwise, it has failed to develop a coherent policy toward Iran’s nuclear program.

IV. Initiatives President Trumpeted in National Defense University Speech are Lagging

Only a Small Fraction of Efforts Focused on Securing Nuclear Stockpiles. ‘Despite its promise, the $20 billion “Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials and Mass Destruction,” has so far focused only a small fraction of its effort on the urgent task of securing the world’s nuclear stockpiles – and is still struggling to move from pledges and words to real action on the ground.” (Securing the Bomb, xi)

Little Pledged Money Allocated to Actual Projects. ‘(O)f the pledged money, little has been allocated for actual Global Partnership projects to date.’ (CSIS, Global Partnership Scorecard, May/June 2004)

$3 Billion Un-pledged. ‘Since the Kananaskis summit in 2002, the Global Partnership has not yet reached its financial goal of $20 billion in pledges (excluding Russia).’ (CSIS, Global Partnership Scorecard, May/June 2004)

[Zorra]

1. Thanks for posting this. John Kerry must be elected. The dispersal

of nuclear material is an issue that has been put on the back burner by the Bu$h administration because of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

If Bu$h genuinely wanted to make the world safer, he would have devoted the same amount of time, energy, money, resources, etc. that he put into invading Iraq into a diplomatic effort to secure international cooperation in confiscating rogue nuclear material.

Because he did not, the spread of unaccounted for nuclear material has widened, and Bu$h has placed all of our lives at risk.

It is obvious that Bu$h does not really care about making the world safer a safer place.

Invading Iraq was a profoundly thoughtless and dangerous "mistake". We are already experiencing many of the negative consequences of this tragic error.

There is now a significantly increased possibility that the world could experience, as a direct result of Bu$h's decision to invade Iraq, consequences of nuclear proportions.

I hope and pray that John Kerry is elected in November, because he has demonstrated a keen awareness of one of the most critical issues facing the world today, and will take immediate steps to resolve this issue after he is elected.