REPS. SCHIFF, FORTENBERRY LAY OUT DIFFERING NUCLEAR SECURITY PRIORITIES

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) yesterday cited several weaknesses in the Nonproliferation Treaty as among the nuclear security issues that should be addressed by Congress. “We must also take steps to strengthen the international nonproliferation regime enshrined in the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and also to explore continued bilateral arms reductions with the Russians. The great weakness of the NPT is that it lacks any kind of enforcement mechanism,” Schiff said at a Congressional Nuclear Security Working Group event. As an example, he noted that Iran has used NPT provisions to assist its civil nuclear program while working on a “secret track” to develop weapons. “What of a state that signs on to the NPT and later renounces it, having accrued the benefits of the transfer of know how and possible  material support from other states and parties?” he asked.

He also called for further reductions to U.S. stockpiles. “The other challenge of the NPT is that it contemplates denuclearization by the acknowledged nuclear weapons states, including the United States, but there has been only incremental progress to reverse the massive arms buildup of the cold war,” Schiff said. “To some extent, this acts as a deterrent to others to renounce their own nuclear ambitions, as many in the world would like the great powers to live up to their own lofty goals.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) laid out different priorities at yesterday’s meeting. “Our weapons and the systems to design to deliver them are aging,” he said, adding “Funding to modernize and upgrade our weapons are diminishing due to very serious budget constraints, as well as sequestration. Some have even suggested despite the persistence of nuclear threats in the world that we should not be proceeding down a path to modernize our nuclear deterrent, but rather we should do away with it altogether.”