[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 60 (Wednesday, May 13, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4774-S4776]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I commend my colleague from New York for 
his comments about the problems with nuclear proliferation. I thank my 
colleague from Nebraska for commenting about discussions that we have 
had over the years about the issues of proliferation of weapons of mass 
destruction.
  I intend to speak directly to a subject that I had talked to the 
Senator from Nebraska about, and that is the need to have activism by 
the President of the United States in trying to deal with nuclear 
proliferation on the subcontinent. In fact, Senator Hank Brown and I 
had visited with Indian Prime Minister Rao in August of 1995 and also 
with Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. I then wrote to the 
President on this precise subject. I

[[Page S4775]]

intend to discuss that at some length during the course of the remarks 
that I am about to make.
  I believe that the nuclear detonation in India makes it more 
important than ever that the United States move ahead with leadership 
to try to defuse the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and 
that the Senate should act promptly to ratify the Comprehensive Test 
Ban Treaty.
  We have had, already, in the course of the last 24 hours, indications 
of a chain reaction. We have had a response from Pakistan that they may 
well, too, test nuclear weapons. We have had a report from North Korea, 
which appears in this morning's press, that ``North Korean officials 
have announced that they are suspending their efforts to carry out the 
1994 nuclear freeze agreement that was intended to dismantle North 
Korea's nuclear program. United States officials said the program was 
intended to produce weapons in North Korea.''
  So we see what is happening on the international scene. There needs 
to be a very positive response by the United States to the likes of 
these very, very threatening developments.
  As I started to comment earlier, Mr. President, Senator Hank Brown 
and I had occasion to meet with both the Indian Prime Minister and the 
Pakistani Prime Minister back on August 26 and 27 of 1995. It is 
summarized best in a letter that I wrote to the President from 
Damascus, dated August 28, 1995, which reads as follows:

       I think it important to call to your personal attention the 
     substance of meetings which Senator Hank Brown and I have had 
     in the last two days with Indian Prime Minister Rao and 
     Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
       Prime Minister Rao stated that he would be very interested 
     in negotiations which would lead to the elimination of any 
     nuclear weapons on his subcontinent within ten or fifteen 
     years including renouncing first use of such weapons. His 
     interest in such negotiations with Pakistan would cover 
     bilateral talks or a regional conference which would include 
     the United States, China and Russia in addition to India and 
     Pakistan.
       When we mentioned this conversation to Prime Minister 
     Bhutto this morning, she expressed great interest in such 
     negotiations. When we told her of our conversation with Prime 
     Minister Rao, she asked if we could get him to put that in 
     writing.
       When we asked Prime Minister Bhutto when she had last 
     talked to Prime Minister Rao, she said that she had no 
     conversations with him during her tenure as Prime Minister. 
     Prime Minister Bhutto did say that she had initiated a 
     contact through an intermediary but that was terminated when 
     a new controversy arose between Pakistan and India.
       From our conversations with Prime Minister Rao and Prime 
     Minister Bhutto, it is my sense that both would be very 
     receptive to discussions initiated and brokered by the United 
     States as to nuclear weapons and also delivery missile 
     systems.
       I am dictating this letter to you by telephone from 
     Damascus so that you will have it at the earliest moment. I 
     am also telefaxing a copy of this letter to Secretary of 
     State Warren Christopher.

  When the news broke about the action by the government of India in 
detonating the nuclear weapon, I wrote to the President yesterday as 
follows:

       With this letter, I am enclosing a copy of a letter I sent 
     to you on August 28, 1995, concerning the United States 
     brokering arrangements between India and Pakistan to make 
     their subcontinent nuclear free.
       You may recall that I have discussed this issue with you on 
     several occasions after I sent you that letter. In light of 
     the news reports today that India has set off nuclear 
     devices, I again urge you to act to try to head off or 
     otherwise deal with the India-Pakistan nuclear arms race.
       I continue to believe that an invitation from you to the 
     Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan to meet in the Oval 
     Office, after appropriate preparations, could ameliorate this 
     very serious problem.
       I am taking the liberty of sending a copy of this letter to 
     Secretary Albright.
       Sincerely.

  When I discussed the meeting which Senator Brown and I had with both 
Prime Ministers in late 1995, the President said that was an item which 
he would put on his agenda following the 1996 elections. Since those 
elections, I have had occasion again to talk to the President about 
this subject, and he expressed concern as to what the response of the 
Senate would be and what would happen with respect to the concerns of 
China. I expressed the opinion to President Clinton that I thought our 
colleagues in the Senate would be very interested in moving ahead to 
try to diffuse the obvious tension between India and Pakistan on 
nuclear weapons.
  That is all prolog. What we have now is a testing of a nuclear device 
by India as a matter of national pride. And I think that is what it is.
  The new Government of India did give adequate notice, although, here 
again, I believe there might have been some sharp focus of attention by 
the CIA. Perhaps it is necessary to talk to the White House even about 
columns which appear in the New York Times, or some formal way to warn 
of this threat in a more precise and focused manner, although I quite 
agree with what the Senator from Nebraska, Senator Kerrey, said--that 
it was obvious what the Government of India had intended to do.
  But as I say, that is prolog. Now I think there is an urgent 
necessity for leadership from the President to try to diffuse this 
situation. At the same time, Mr. President, I think there is an urgent 
need that the Senate of the United States proceed to the consideration 
and ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The essence of 
that treaty provides that it is an obligation not to carry out any 
nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion. That 
treaty has been considered by a number of countries, has been ratified 
by many countries, but it is still awaiting action by the United 
States.
  The Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on International 
Security, Proliferation and Federal Services held a hearing on this 
subject on October 27, of last year and March 18, of this year, and the 
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development held 
a similar hearing on October 29 of last year. But as yet, there has 
been no action by the Foreign Relations Committee. It seems to me 
imperative that the matter be brought to the Senate floor as early as 
possible and whatever hearings are deemed necessary be held so that the 
Senate may consider this matter.
  There are some considerations as to objections to the treaty as to 
whether we can know in a comprehensive way the adequacy of our nuclear 
weapons. But it seems to me that whatever the arguments may be, they 
ought to be aired in a hearing process before the Foreign Relations 
Committee and on the floor of this Senate and then brought for a vote 
by the U.S. Senate.
  This is a matter of life and death. When we talk about nuclear 
weapons, we are talking about the force and the power which can destroy 
civilization as we know it. During the tenure that I had as chairman of 
the Senate Intelligence Committee, I took a look at the governmental 
structure in the United States on weapons of mass destruction, saw that 
some 96 separate agencies had operations, and, in conjunction with the 
then-Director John Deutch, inserted the provision to establish the 
commission to consider the governmental structure of the United States 
in dealing with weapons of mass destruction. That commission is now in 
operation. John Deutch is the chairman and I serve as vice chairman.

  But it is certainly necessary that matters of this magnitude receive 
early attention at all levels of the government, including the 
President and the U.S. Senate. Where there is concern in the Senate on 
the subject of testing to know the capabilities of our weapons, it 
should be noted that article X of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty 
does provide for the right to withdraw if the Government decides that 
extraordinary events relating to the subject matter of this treaty 
would jeopardize the supreme interests, referring to the supreme 
interests of any nation. President Clinton has stated that he would 
consider withdrawing if we came to that kind of a situation.
  President Clinton signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on 
September 24, 1996. Now we are more than a year and a half later 
without any real significant action having been taken by the U.S. 
Senate.
  The 149 states have signed the treaty, and 13 have ratified it as of 
April of 1998. There is obviously a problem with what is going to 
happen with Iraq, Iran, or other countries which seek to develop 
nuclear weapons. There is obviously a problem with other nations which 
have nuclear weapons. But the ban on nuclear testing would certainly be 
a significant step forward in diffusing the situation and in acting to 
try to have comprehensive arms control on this very, very important 
subject.

[[Page S4776]]

  I urge the President to take action, to use his good offices with 
sufficient preparation, as noted in my letter to him of yesterday, for 
a meeting in the Oval Office. Very few foreign leaders decline meetings 
in the Oval Office. That should be of the highest priority on the 
President's agenda, and similarly on the Senate agenda. Consideration 
and ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty ought to be a 
very high priority on the Senate's agenda.
  Mr. President, in the absence of any other Senator on 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. SPECTER. 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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