[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S1001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 COMBATING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, with the end of the Cold War, the terrible 
threat of nuclear holocaust has been substantially reduced. But the 
world is far from trouble-free. The threat of the 90's, perhaps to 
become the threat of the coming decade, is that posed by weapons of 
mass destruction in the hands of lesser powers--like Iraq or Iran--or 
even terrorist groups.
  My esteemed colleague, the senior Senator from Indiana, has written a 
sobering article in today's issue of The Hill. His conclusion is one to 
which we should all pay attention:

       Absent congressional support of a U.S. response to this 
     threat as focused, serious and vigorous as America's Cold War 
     strategy, Americans may have every reason to anticipate 
     domestic or international acts of nuclear, chemical and 
     biological terrorism against American targets before another 
     decade is out.

  The Nunn-Lugar and related programs that help countries in the former 
Soviet Union to guard against diversion of material or technology 
relating to weapons of mass destruction are an important defense 
against such terrorism. Last year, I was pleased to co-sponsor Senator 
Lugar's amendment that restored full funding to these programs. This 
year, we would all be well advised to seek opportunities to expand 
these programs, as recommended in a study last year by the National 
Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.
  I commend Senator Lugar's article to my colleagues and ask unanimous 
consent that its text be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                     [From The Hill, Feb. 25, 1998]

               The Threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction

                     (By Senator Richard G. Lugar)

       Last week the American people were reminded that terrorism 
     is not just somebody else's problem. Two men were arrested by 
     the FBI in Nevada on suspicion of possessing a biological 
     agent believed to be anthrax. News reports suggested that the 
     suspects were members of the Aryan Nation, and rumors 
     abounded that they planned to attack a large metropolitan 
     area.
       This is but the latest instance in a growing series of 
     incidents in which weapons of mass destruction have been 
     linked to terrorist plots.
       Terrorists of today do not need a Manhattan Project to 
     construct weapons of mass terror.
       Local law enforcement and the FBI responded quickly and 
     efficiently to the potential threat in Nevada. But this 
     episode begs the question: What would have happened if we had 
     not detected this threat? What were the origins of this 
     material? In this case, the source appears to have been an 
     American laboratory. But the origins could just as well have 
     been foreign.
       On the day the suspects were arrested in Nevada, the news 
     media reported on a Russian-made form of deadly anthrax 
     bacteria that is resistant to penicillin and all current 
     vaccines. If true, this creates the risk that individual 
     Russian biologists might illicitly sell samples of their work 
     to rogue nations, such as Iraq. The U.S. military is 
     concerned that such an untreatable strain, if it exists, 
     could show up in Iraq during any military action in the 
     Persian Gulf.
       At home, the terms under which American firms and 
     laboratories can sell such materials need to be tightened. 
     One of the suspects arrested in Nevada had pleaded guilty to 
     fraud after he was accused of illegally obtaining bubonic 
     plague bacteria from an American laboratory.
       The Nevada incident demonstrates that the threat is real 
     and that we must be prepared. Preparation must take the form 
     of help to locate ``first responders''--the firemen, police, 
     emergency management teams, and medical personnel who will be 
     on the front lines if deterrence and prevention of such 
     incidents fail.
       That is why the 1996 Nunn-Lugar-Domenici ``Defense Against 
     Weapons of Mass Destruction'' legislation directed the 
     professionals from the Department of Defense, Federal Bureau 
     of Investigation, Federal Emergency Management Agency and 
     other executive agencies to join in a partnership with local 
     emergency professionals in cities across the country. To 
     date, 14 metropolitan areas have received training to deal 
     with these potential threats. The Pentagon intends to supply 
     training and equipment to 120 cities across the country over 
     the next five years.
       Preparations at home, however, are insufficient, because 
     the most dangerous sources of proliferation are abroad where 
     the threats are more complex and the solutions more 
     complicated. There are three main lines of defense against 
     the proliferation of weapons and materials of mass 
     destruction. Individually, each is insufficient; together, 
     they help to form the policy fabric of an integrated defense-
     in-depth. The first is preventing proliferation at the 
     sources abroad. The second is deterring and interdicting the 
     flow of illicit trade in these weapons and materials. The 
     third line of defense is preparing domestically for a crisis.
       As a consequence of the collapse of the Soviet totalitarian 
     command and control society, a vast potential supermarket of 
     weapons and materials of mass destruction has become 
     increasingly accessible. Religious sects, organized crime and 
     terrorist organizations can now attempt to buy or steal what 
     they previously had to produce on their own. The available 
     technology allows a small number of conspirators to threaten 
     large populations, something heretofore achievable only by 
     nation-states.
       In attempting to fashion a response to this threat, it is 
     common sense to attempt to deal with the threat posed by 
     weapons of mass destruction at as great a distance from our 
     borders as possible.
       The Nunn-Lugar program at the Department of Defense, along 
     with its companion programs at the Department of Energy, are 
     the tools the United States is employing to reduce this 
     threat at the source, the former Soviet Union.
       The program seeks to secure weapons-usable materials that 
     are at risk of falling into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, 
     much still remains poorly secured.
       Americans are still threatened by weapons of mass 
     destruction. In the United States we are not adequately 
     equipped to manage the crisis posed by the threatened use of 
     such weapons or to manage the consequences of their use 
     against civilian populations, whether weapons production is 
     foreign or local.
       The real question, is whether there exists sufficient 
     political will in Congress to devote the requisite resources 
     not only to domestic preparedness but to the first two lines 
     of defense--namely, prevention and deterrence. Only by 
     shoring up the lines of defense abroad can we hope to prepare 
     successfully for the threat at home.
       Absent congressional support of a U.S. response to this 
     threat as focused, serious and vigorous as America's Cold War 
     strategy, Americans may have every reason to anticipate 
     domestic or international acts of nuclear, chemical and 
     biological terrorism against American targets before another 
     decade is out.




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