[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 121 (Friday, September 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9245-S9246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I wanted to speak for a few minutes here 
on the subject of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. My distinguished 
colleague from Delaware, Senator Biden, spoke about it this week. He, 
of course, is the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee 
which is one of the key committees with responsibility over this 
subject matter.
  The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, as I understand it, is intended to 
be sent by the administration to the Senate in the very near future. 
And I want to just reemphasize some of the points that Senator Biden 
made, and highlight the importance of the treaty to our national 
security and international peace.
  In the wake of the cold war, our world remains a very dangerous place 
in which to live. When the United States and the Soviet Union were 
still aiming thousands of nuclear warheads at each other during the 
cold war, all of us understood the danger that existed--perhaps only a 
half an hour away. But with the fall of international communism, the 
world breathed a huge sigh of relief, and hoped that we could move into 
a postnuclear age. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is a major part of 
the hope and a major part of what needs to be done in order to move 
into that postnuclear age.
  No greater threat to our national security or international peace 
exists than the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The potential damage 
that such weapons could do remains no less a threat than the one that 
we feared during the cold war. Think for a moment about the possibility 
of terrorists armed with nuclear weapons having been in the Tokyo 
subway instead of terrorists there with nerve gas. Think of the 
possibility of terrorists having been in Oklahoma City with a small 
nuclear weapon instead of with the weapon that was there. Perhaps my 
colleagues have read recent reports about the suitcase-sized nuclear 
weapons being unaccounted for in Russia. Whether these reports are true 
or not I recently had the chance to visit Russia and observe a model of 
the nuclear weapons that existed there; the size of artillery shells. 
And I am told that is also a weapon that we have had in our own 
inventory at various times. Such miniature nuclear weapons are indeed, 
feasible. They pose a realistic threat to the post-cold war world in 
which we live.
  The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is a critical element in the 
spectrum of policies and actions that we need to take to prevent the 
spread of nuclear weapons of whatever size--prevent the spread of them 
to rogue nations, to terrorist organizations, to individuals bent on 
some type of irrational destructive behavior. For countries that have 
no nuclear weapons, it is impossible for them to develop nuclear 
weapons and be confident that they will work without being able to test 
them.
  Senator Biden recently stated that the proof of this belief is 
manifested by the current reluctance of Pakistan and India to sign the 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. These nations currently prefer to be 
able to test their weapons in order to ensure that they work--thereby 
demonstrating their nuclear capability and supporting their foreign 
policy goals. The danger of a nuclear conflict between these two 
nations and the potential impact such a war could have on the entire 
planet should be very clear to everyone who serves here in the Senate.
  But India and Pakistan, and other potential nuclear powers, will not 
step

[[Page S9246]]

back from the nuclear brink if the United States and the other nuclear 
powers do not take convincing steps toward controlling, reducing, and 
eliminating nuclear weapons through arms control treaties, specifically 
through the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
  The recent seismic event that occurred off the coast of northern 
Russia reminds us of how important it is for the Senate to ratify and 
for the world to implement this test ban treaty. In this case the 
experts disagree among themselves about the exact nature of the event. 
Article IV of the treaty will ensure that we could take steps to 
clarify whether or not that incident was a nuclear explosion or an 
underground earthquake. But, without the treaty, the experts will 
continue to massage the data in search for definitive answers. With the 
treaty, we could observe some answers directly through on-site 
inspection.
  Without the treaty, potential nuclear powers might well conclude that 
today's superpowers are ignoring their promises to discontinue nuclear 
testing--that, therefore, license exists for these nonnuclear powers 
who have the ambition to become nuclear powers to proceed on their own 
path toward development of nuclear weapons with impunity. If we put 
this treaty in place, those same potential nuclear powers would 
recognize that current nuclear powers should be held accountable for 
their promises not to test nuclear weapons. With the treaty in place, 
they would know that the commitment of today's nuclear powers to 
nonproliferation was a genuine commitment and one that we would abide 
by.
  It serves the peaceful interests of the United States and the 
peaceful interests of countries throughout the world to take this 
important step to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and 
eliminate nuclear testing. At the same time it serves the security 
interests of this Nation to ensure that our nuclear weapons remain a 
viable deterrent force. The science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program 
that we have in place today as part of our defense strategy is the 
means by which the United States can achieve this dual goal--the goal 
of a comprehensive test ban to ensure nonproliferation, and also a 
reliable nuclear deterrent force, should we ever need such weapons in 
the future. I will be working hard, and I urge all my colleagues in the 
Senate both to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to ensure 
that the Stockpile Stewardship Program is fully funded and implemented. 
The Nation's prospects for a peaceful world and our national security 
demand that we move ahead on world fronts.
  I urge my colleagues to examine these and other important issues 
surrounding the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty very carefully during the 
coming months. I hope that we can have this treaty presented to the 
Senate in the next few weeks. I hope that we can begin the hearing 
process this fall. I hope that early next year we can act favorably 
upon it.
  I have written a letter to the chairman and the ranking member of the 
Armed Services Committee requesting that we hold hearings on this 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty at our earliest opportunity--hopefully, 
before we adjourn this fall. I look forward to that debate.
  I am confident that the Senate will choose to ratify the treaty since 
it is so much in our national interest to do so and in the interests of 
world peace, once we have all the facts.
  Mr. President, I think it is essential that we spend some of our 
valuable time between now and final adjournment this fall focused on 
this treaty so that we can understand those facts and act responsibly 
on this matter.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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