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A recent report issued by a Department of Energy Task Force concluded that the danger of nuclear weapons or weapons-usable material being stolen from the former Soviet Union and used against the U.S. or U.S. troops is "the most urgent unmet national security threat."
The Task Force, established by former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, was commissioned to conduct a full review of Energy Department programs intended to safeguard Russian nuclear material. Co-chaired by former White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler and former Senator Howard Baker, the panel included among its luminaries former Senators David Boren, Gary Hart, Jim McClure, Sam Nunn, and Alan Simpson, former Congressmen Butler Derrick, Lee Hamilton, and David Skaggs, and BCSIA Director Graham T. Allison,
While the panel praised the "impressive results" of programs under the Clinton administration, it found that these programs'' "limited mandate and funding fall far short of what is required to adequately address this threat." The panel proposed increasing spending to 3 billion a year over the next 10 years in order to completely secure Russian nuclear materials and found that this money "would constitute the highest return on investment in any current U.S. national security and defense program."
As part of a recommendation for "a more centralized command of the financial and human resources required to do the job," the Task Force suggested creating a high-level White House leadership position responsible for coordinating non-proliferation programs across the U.S. government. The panel''s specific recommendations included drastically shrinking the number of sites at which nuclear materials are held; accelerating security upgrades at the remaining sites; assisting the Russians in establishing a reliable accounting system for all warheads and materials; and funding "contract research" and financial incentives for early retirement for Russian nuclear scientists facing desperate financial conditions.
The report''s conclusions about the gravity of the threat may provide the momentum necessary for the Bush administration to act on the Task Force''s recommendations. The team briefed members of President George W. Bush''s administration and the Washington Post reported that panel co-chair Howard Baker believes that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney "share our conviction that this is one of the most important problems we face."
A Report Card on the Department of Energy''s Nonproliferation Program with Russia can be found at: http://www.hr.doe.gov/seab/
(David Pass contributed to this article.)