[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 76 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 76

   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the policy of preemption, 
  combined with a policy of first use of nuclear weapons, creates an 
    incentive for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, 
  especially nuclear weapons, and is inconsistent with the long-term 
                     security of the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 5, 2003

 Mr. Durbin submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                   the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the policy of preemption, 
  combined with a policy of first use of nuclear weapons, creates an 
    incentive for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, 
  especially nuclear weapons, and is inconsistent with the long-term 
                     security of the United States.

Whereas press reports show that the December 31, 2001 Nuclear Posture Review 
        states that the United States might use nuclear weapons to dissuade 
        adversaries from undertaking military programs or operations that could 
        threaten United States interests;
Whereas the Nuclear Posture Review, according to such reports, goes on to state 
        that nuclear weapons could be employed against targets capable of 
        withstanding non-nuclear attack;
Whereas the Nuclear Posture Review is further reported to state that, in setting 
        requirements for nuclear strike capabilities, North Korea, Iraq, Iran, 
        Syria, and Libya are among the countries that could be involved in 
        immediate, potential, or unexpected contingencies;
Whereas the September 17, 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States 
        of America states that ``[a]s a matter of common sense and self-defense, 
        America will act against such emerging threats before they are fully 
        formed,'' and that ``[t]o forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our 
        adversaries, the United States will, if necessary, act preemptively'';
Whereas the December 2002 National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass 
        Destruction states that ``[t]he United States will continue to make 
        clear that it reserves the right to respond with overwhelming force--
        including through resort to all of our options--to the use of [weapons 
        of mass destruction] against the United States, our forces abroad, and 
        friends and allies'';
Whereas United States nuclear policy, outlined in 1978 and restated in 1995 and 
        2002, includes, in the context of gaining other nations' support for the 
        Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a ``negative 
        security assurance'' that the United States would not use its nuclear 
        force against a country that does not possess nuclear weapons unless 
        that country was allied with a nuclear weapons possessor;
Whereas the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International 
        Security, John Bolton, recently announced the Administration's 
        abandonment of the so-called ``negative security assurance'' pledge to 
        refrain from using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear nations;
Whereas reports about the Stockpile Stewardship Conference Planning Meeting of 
        the Department of Defense, held on January 10, 2003, indicate that the 
        United States is engaged in the expansion of research and development of 
        new types of nuclear weapons;
Whereas this expansion of nuclear weapons research covers new forms of nuclear 
        weaponry that threaten the limitations on nuclear weapons testing that 
        are established by the unratified, but previously respected, 
        Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty;
Whereas these policies and actions threaten to make nuclear weapons appear to be 
        useful, legitimate, first-strike offensive weapons, rather than a force 
        for deterrence, and therefore undermine an essential tenet of 
        nonproliferation; and
Whereas the cumulative effect of the policies announced by the President is to 
        redefine the concept of preemption, which had been understood to mean 
        the right of every state to anticipatory self-defense in the face of 
        imminent attack, and to broaden the concept to justify a preventive war 
        initiated by the United States, even without evidence of an imminent 
        attack, in which the United States might use nuclear weapons against 
        non-nuclear states: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the President's 
policy of preemption, combined with a policy of first use of nuclear 
weapons, creates an incentive for proliferation of weapons of mass 
destruction, especially nuclear weapons, and is inconsistent with the 
long-term security of the United States.
                                 <all>