[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 100 (Monday, June 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S8612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FRANCE TO CONDUCT NUCLEAR TESTS

  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, I was disturbed, almost alarmed, when I 
saw that the new President of France had said that France was going to 
conduct eight nuclear tests. It is not at all certain, from the press 
releases I have seen, what the magnitude of those tests will be--that 
is, how much plutonium will be used and what the kilotonnage will be.
  Second, I would like to say that I think President Chirac is off to a 
very bad start. The precedent that he is setting is certainly going to 
influence people in this country who, for no sound reason, think we 
should also begin testing again. And sure enough, this morning, I read 
an account--I think maybe from Reuters--that our Secretary of Defense, 
William Perry, has said that he is getting ready to present the 
President with a series of options for resuming tests, from 4 pounds of 
plutonium to a full-scale test. He does not say how many tests will be 
conducted. But the argument is the same as that being used by France, 
that is, we have to determine the reliability of our deployed weapons 
and our stockpiles.
  Now, bear in mind, Mr. President, that we test our ballistic missiles 
every year. I have been arguing on the floor of the Senate for 3 years 
that we are buying more D-5 missiles than we can possibly use on our 
Trident submarines. And in my arguments, I have always insisted that 
the number I think we should procure is not only adequate for the 
purposes, but also allows the Defense Department to continue testing 
anywhere from three to five D-5 missiles every year to determine their 
reliability.
  I understand that this falls in the category of things that the 
Defense Department would like to do but does not have to do.
  We are coming up on a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which is 
supposed to go into effect in 1996, and we are all trying to get under 
the wire now with these little tests which were portrayed as to be ``so 
small as to be insignificant,'' at least for the French, just prior to 
asking every other nation to be good scouts and obey what has been 
agreed to in the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
  I hope the President of the United States will have the courage to do 
what he did the first year he was in office and say, ``No more 
testing.'' He first said no testing for 15 months. When 15 months was 
over, he said no more testing, indefinitely. This is an indefinite ban 
on testing by the United States.
  He no more had the words out of his mouth, and the Defense Department 
says it is absolutely essential to determine the reliability of our 
weapons, and we must start testing all over again.
  Now, Mr. President, I will say, I know the makeup of this body. I 
know the makeup of the House. Unless the President says ``No,'' and is 
prepared to stick with it, we will start testing.
  That sends a message to every two-bit dictator in the world. We have 
been pleading with nations that we know are involved in trying to 
develop nuclear weapons, we have been pleading with them ``Don't do 
it.'' Now what kind of a message does it send to those same nations 
when we start testing again? The United States and France will be the 
two most irresponsible nations on the planet Earth--if we join France 
and start testing again.
  I do not intend to call the President. He has a lot of things to do. 
He knows my feelings about it. I have discussed it with him on previous 
occasions. I just think it would be a terrible thing for the United 
States, a terrible precedent, here 1 year away from the implementation 
of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, before the Senator yields the floor, 
would he yield to me for a question?
  Mr. BUMPERS. I am happy to yield to the Senator.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Sir, the distinguished senior Senator from Arkansas 
will recall that in 1974, the Republic of India detonated a nuclear 
device.
  Mr. BUMPERS. I remember it well.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. The second-most populated nation in the world, and in 
the 20 years since, they have never yet detonated a second--not because 
they are members of the Test Ban Treaty, but because they feel there is 
an international constraint in place and it would be in some way 
inappropriate. Not that they could not or that they would not like to. 
They have not done it.
  Would the Senator consider whether or not our now presumed testing, 
and French testing in the Pacific, would not put pressure on regimes 
such as that of India, or regimes which are clearly capable of nuclear 
devices, such as Pakistan?
  Is that what we want started?
  Mr. BUMPERS. The Senator makes my point better than I made it myself.
  I must say, the Senator has given me a piece of information, as 
closely as I try to follow this issue, that I did not realize, and that 
is that India has never tested since their first test.
  With some respect, we expect this sort of thing from the Chinese. In 
the world diplomacy, the Chinese have never been quite as concerned as 
to how the nations of the world community might feel about what they 
do. They test when they are ready. As far as I know, China is the only 
nation that has tested since the President took that bold initiative in 
1993.
  It does not endear them to me, but they have always danced to their 
own tune, marched to their own drummer.
  I thought it was irresponsible for them to start testing, but be that 
as it may, our thinking about testing sends a terrible signal to every 
nation on Earth. It seems we are doing our very best to torpedo both 
the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-proliferation 
Treaty.
  I might also say, incidentally, on the other side of the coin, once 
India tested, Pakistan decided it needed nuclear weapons. The Senator 
is all too familiar with the problems we have with Pakistan and India, 
now. It is never ending. The Pakistanis will never be satisfied until 
they think they are coequal in the nuclear game with India.
  Every time somebody joins the field, some other nation that has a 
1,000-year history of animosity with that nation immediately goes to 
work--Iran and Iraq, and so it goes.

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