14 March 1998
Source: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aaces002.html

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[Congressional Record: February 25, 1998 (Senate)]
[Page S1001]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr25fe98-145]


                 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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