Politics

No Change In U.S. Nuke Moratorium

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 8, 2002 / 10:11 AM EST / CBS

In response to an article in Tuesday's Washington Post, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to a nuclear testing moratorium.

The defense secretary's comments came as the Pentagon prepared to send Congress proposals for a major overhaul of the nation's nuclear policy.

Rumsfeld, speaking to reporters ahead of the scheduled delivery of the Nuclear Policy Review to Congress, did leave open the possibility that controversial underground testing might be needed in the future. The reason for leaving open the option, Rumsfeld said, was to insure that nuclear warheads are "safe and reliable."

"The president is observing the moratorium and has said so," Rumsfeld said. But "any country that has nuclear weapons has to be respectful of the enormous lethality and power of those weapons, and has a responsibility to see that they are safe and reliable.

"To the extent that can be done without testing, clearly that's the preference. And that is why the president has concluded that, thus far, that is the case."

The Washington Post reported that the review would urge a quicker process for resuming testing should that become necessary, saying this raised the possibility of a resumption. Under current guidelines it would take two years to arrange the first test. The secret Nuclear Posture Review will contain the Bush administation's justification for reducing strategic warheads over the next decade by almost two-thirds, as proposed by Bush in meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Post said.

Mr. Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, ordered the moratorium on underground nuclear test in 1992 and the order was upheld by the Clinton administration. But President George W. Bush, who also is having the U.S. withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia, has said that a resumption of testing must be an option for the United States.