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“OMNIBUS NONPROLIFERATION AND ANTI-NUCLEAR TERRORISM ACT OF 2005” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H261-H262 on Feb. 1, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
OMNIBUS NONPROLIFERATION AND ANTI-NUCLEAR TERRORISM ACT OF 2005
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, early on the morning of October 11, 2001, as lower Manhattan still lay smoldering, President Bush was told by George Tenet, the Director of Central Intelligence, that a CIA agent was reporting that al Qaeda terrorists armed with a stolen Russian nuclear weapon were loose in New York City.
The threat was not made public for fear it would cause mass panic, but it precipitated an evacuation of hundreds of senior U.S. Government officials, including Vice-President Cheney, to a series of undisclosed locations away from the capital. Nuclear Emergency Search Teams were dispatched to New York to look for the weapon, reportedly a 10 kiloton warhead that could have killed at least 100,000 people if it were detonated in Manhattan.
Thankfully, the CIA report turned out to be untrue, but the danger we face from nuclear terrorism is all too real. Osama bin Laden has termed the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction ``a religious duty,'' while his press spokesman has announced that al Qaeda aspires to kill 4 million Americans, including 1 million children.
President Bush has deemed a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States as the number one national security threat facing this country. Last week, in a valedictory interview with the Associated Press, Attorney General John Ashcroft also singled out the danger to America posed by terrorists armed with nuclear weapons.
I agree with the President and the Attorney General. I also share the conviction of almost every expert in and out of government who has looked at this problem that if we do not act now to secure existing nuclear material and weapons, as well as the expertise needed to build new weapons, a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States is only a matter of time.
Mr. Speaker, I will be introducing the Omnibus Nuclear Nonproliferation and Anti-Nuclear Terrorism Act of 2005 to better enable the United States to prevent what Graham Allison of Harvard University has termed ``the ultimate preventable catastrophe.'' I am pleased to announce that several of my colleagues will be joining me as co-sponsors.
Over the past several months I have consulted with a range of experts to produce a range of policies that I believe will be effective and which can be implemented quickly, as time is of the essence and time is not on our side.
First, the bill creates an Office of Nonproliferation Programs within the Executive Office of the President to coordinate and oversee America's efforts to prevent terrorists from gaining access to nuclear weapons and to manage the effort to secure existing nuclear material in the former Soviet Union and other places.
The bill expands the ability of the President to carry out the Cooperative Threat Reduction programs both in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.
It will enhance the Global Threat Reduction Initiative announced by Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, our former Secretary, last May to advance the global cleanout of the most vulnerable stockpiles of nuclear weapons materials.
The legislation calls on the President to expand and strengthen his Proliferation Security Initiative to interdict the shipment of nuclear material.
My bill also urges the President to work with other nations and international organizations to develop and implement standards to improve the security of nuclear weapons and materials.
It authorizes the Department of Energy to assist Russia in conducting a comprehensive inventory of its tactical weapons and requires reports to Congress on those efforts.
My bill will also expand the President's authority to fund non-
defense research by Russian WMD scientists so these scientists would not be tempted to sell their secrets to North Korea, Iran or al Qaeda.
Finally, the bill will require the President to report on ways to strengthen the Non-proliferation Treaty by more effectively controlling nuclear technology and material and by mobilizing the international community to close the loophole in Article IV of the treaty.
Mr. Speaker, as the Nation and this Congress grappled with the attacks of September 11, we asked ourselves how we could have failed to foresee the danger posed by al Qaeda and taken steps to prevent 9/11. We know about the danger of nuclear terrorism. We have been warned repeatedly. We are in a race with terrorists who are actively seeking nuclear weapons. The choice is ours. We can continue doing what we are doing now and risk an almost inevitable nuclear attack or we can take action to prevent it. When you consider the consequences, Mr. Speaker, the choice is really no choice at all.
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