May 10, 2003 12:25pm
The US Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to lift a ban on research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons in the United States.
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A provision repealing the 10-year-old ban was included in the 2004 national defense authorization bill, which the Senate committee passed Friday.
The bill must still pass through the US House Armed Services Committee, the full House and the Senate and can be amended at each stage. US President George W. Bush, whose administration had requested the repeal, would then have to sign the bill to enact it into law.
But critics of the repeal, who consider the ban a pillar of arms control in the United States, have said that the best place to block it would have been during deliberations by the influential Senate committee.
The 1993 ban, called the Spratt-Furse Amendment, prohibits research and development leading to production of low-yield nuclear weapons, defined as a weapon with an explosive force of less than five kilotonnes, or 5,000 tonnes of TNT.
The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was measured at 15 kilotonnes, according to media reports here.
In a statement, the committee said it had "authorized a provision to repeal the ban on research and development of low yield nuclear weapons," and stated that nothing in the repeal shall be construed as "authorizing the testing, acquisition or deployment of a low-yield nuclear weapon."
Proponents say the measure is necessary to counter emerging threats and because countries such as North Korea, India and Pakistan do not observe non-proliferation treaties.
"Without committing to deployment, research on low-yield nuclear warheads is a prudent step to safeguard America from emerging threats and enemies who go deeper and deeper underground," Senator John Warner, chairman of the committee, was quoted as saying in The New York Times.
The panel also approved 15 million dollars for development of Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, also known as a "bunker-buster" for its ability to penetrate and destroy underground bunkers.
The new bunker-buster would be a redesign of an existing nuclear weapon, and would have yields six times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, The Los Angeles Times said.
The Senate committee's version of the bill authorizes 400.5 billion dollars in military spending in fiscal year 2004, including 9.1 billion dollars for ballistic missile defense research, development and procurement, and a 3.7 percent across-the-board pay raise for uniformed service personnel.
The panel also backed a provision requiring the US Energy Department to "achieve and maintain the ability to conduct an underground nuclear test within 18 months, should it become necessary for the president to order such a test."
The committee was sharply divided on the lifting the nuclear ban.
"We have tried for 50-plus years to make these weapons unthinkable," Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, told The New York Times. "And now we're talking about giving them a tactical application. It's a dangerous departure."
@#!&*
The US Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to lift a ban on research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons in the United States.
Advertisement: Explore Within This Space
A provision repealing the 10-year-old ban was included in the 2004 national defense authorization bill, which the Senate committee passed Friday.
The bill must still pass through the US House Armed Services Committee, the full House and the Senate and can be amended at each stage. US President George W. Bush, whose administration had requested the repeal, would then have to sign the bill to enact it into law.
But critics of the repeal, who consider the ban a pillar of arms control in the United States, have said that the best place to block it would have been during deliberations by the influential Senate committee.
The 1993 ban, called the Spratt-Furse Amendment, prohibits research and development leading to production of low-yield nuclear weapons, defined as a weapon with an explosive force of less than five kilotonnes, or 5,000 tonnes of TNT.
The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was measured at 15 kilotonnes, according to media reports here.
In a statement, the committee said it had "authorized a provision to repeal the ban on research and development of low yield nuclear weapons," and stated that nothing in the repeal shall be construed as "authorizing the testing, acquisition or deployment of a low-yield nuclear weapon."
Proponents say the measure is necessary to counter emerging threats and because countries such as North Korea, India and Pakistan do not observe non-proliferation treaties.
"Without committing to deployment, research on low-yield nuclear warheads is a prudent step to safeguard America from emerging threats and enemies who go deeper and deeper underground," Senator John Warner, chairman of the committee, was quoted as saying in The New York Times.
The panel also approved 15 million dollars for development of Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, also known as a "bunker-buster" for its ability to penetrate and destroy underground bunkers.
The new bunker-buster would be a redesign of an existing nuclear weapon, and would have yields six times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, The Los Angeles Times said.
The Senate committee's version of the bill authorizes 400.5 billion dollars in military spending in fiscal year 2004, including 9.1 billion dollars for ballistic missile defense research, development and procurement, and a 3.7 percent across-the-board pay raise for uniformed service personnel.
The panel also backed a provision requiring the US Energy Department to "achieve and maintain the ability to conduct an underground nuclear test within 18 months, should it become necessary for the president to order such a test."
The committee was sharply divided on the lifting the nuclear ban.
"We have tried for 50-plus years to make these weapons unthinkable," Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, told The New York Times. "And now we're talking about giving them a tactical application. It's a dangerous departure."
@#!&*
