CTBT OPPONENTS NOT SWAYED BY NAS REPORT

Despite technical advancements in recent years, two former nuclear weapons laboratory directors still aren’t convinced that the United States should foreswear its right to nuclear testing. Speaking at the Heritage Foundation yesterday, former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director John Foster and former Sandia National Laboratories Director Paul Robinson provided a counter to a recent National Academy of Sciences report that suggested there were no technical obstacles that would prevent the U.S. from ratifying the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty. Foster said because the weapons complex has been underfunded for years, “We may be running serious risks and not know it. That’s the concern that the laboratory directors have. They know there are problems in the stockpile but they have no evidence to say that therefore they must go back to testing.” Foster suggested that the nation focus on adequately funding efforts to modernize the weapons complex and arsenal before making a decision on the CTBT. “For large measure, for 20 years we’ve failed to provide the necessary capabilities and opportunities and funding to maintain the nuclear deterrent,” he said. “So given that degree of ignorance it seems to me reasonable to assume the first priority is to restore our ability to maintain the nuclear deterrent. That will give us a wealth of information. Given that information we might decide whether we need to return to testing, or we may not.”