I believe that if we give this matter the attention it deserves, we CAN prevent a nuclear 9-11. The reason I am optimistic is because there is a finite amount of fissionable material in the world, and making it is well beyond the capability of terrorist groups.
Securing All of the World's Nukes
Therefore, if we lock down all the nuclear weapons and bomb-grade material which exist - and also make sure that all future nuclear fuel and spent-fuel is secure -- we CAN prevent what former Assistant Secretary of Defense Graham Allison has called "the ultimate preventable catastrophe."
Securing all the world's nukes will be a huge task -- but not an impossible one. A lot of good things already have been done.
The 1992 Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Program has deactivated and destroyed hundreds of missiles and thousands of warheads, and has improved security for much of the former Soviet arsenal.
And the Bush administration has done some good things, such as the Proliferation Security Initiative, the Global Threat Initiative, and the 2005 Bratislava accord between Bush and Putin on nuclear security.
When I was Energy Secretary under President Clinton, DOE also did many things to secure Russian nukes. We increased funding - from $85 million to $138 million -- for DOE's Material Protection, Control and Accounting (MPC & A) program, to protect Russian nuclear warheads and weapons-grade fissile material from falling into the hands of terrorists or black market dealers.
I also signed the implementing agreement for the MPC & A program, which put the program on a secure footing with the Russians. And we got an emergency $200 million supplemental to dispose of Russian weapons-usable plutonium. We worked closely with the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy to determine how to use these funds to eliminate 34 tons of Russian plutonium.
Bush Has Failed to Deter Russian Nukes
But I am sorry to say that the Bush Administration got entangled in delays and conflicts with the Russians -- and still has not spent this $200 million. Those 34 tons of plutonium are still there - and now it even appears that funding is in danger in Congress. I strongly urge Congress to fund this important nonproliferation program.
During my tenure at DOE, our Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI) actually got the Russians to agree to close down their Avangard nuclear weapons plant, as we funded the transition of displaced weapons workers to non-military jobs.
This was money well spent to protect America and the world. We should have expanded this program, but instead the Bush Administration allowed the NCI agreement to lapse when it came up for renewal in 2003.
Indeed, before 9-11 the Bush administration even planned to kill both the plutonium disposition program and the Nuclear Cities Initiative, and to this day they continue to under-fund both programs.
Bush Under-Funding Programs to End Russian Nukes
Meanwhile, we are spending $10 billion a month on Iraq. Of the many ways in which Mr. Bush's ill-conceived war has distracted us from our real national security needs, this is the most dangerous.
We must do more -- much more -- to secure Russian nuclear materials. At of the end of FY 2005, U.S.-funded security and accounting upgrades had been completed for barely half of former Soviet at-risk sites - leaving many sites vulnerable even to relatively unsophisticated terrorists or traffickers.
And even the upgraded buildings remain vulnerable to well-trained attackers -- of the sort we have seen in action in Russia in recent years. We need more rapid progress in consolidating nuclear weapons and materials into a smaller number of sites, and in making sure that every site is secure.
We and the Russians also should take our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert status.
Not only is this Cold War relic unnecessary today, but it also prevents us from securing all of the Russian arsenal, as they don't want to provide us with total information on their nuclear weapons when we have thousands of our own ready to be launched at them on a minute's notice.
Bill Richardson in 2008 Info Center at About.com Liberal Politics
