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[Page: E1877]

• Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, on September 26, the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency [ACDA], celebrated its 35th anniversary. I am proud to have been one of the architects of the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Act of 1994 which underscored the necessity of maintaining bipartisan support for a revitalized ACDA to address the immense arms control agenda facing the United States in the post-cold war world.

• The arms control agenda remains a vital issue, one which demands our continued vigilance and support. On September 24, President Clinton because the first world leader to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty [CTBT] at the United Nations--a commitment from virtually all the world's nations to end nuclear tests for all time.

• The greatest danger to our security is from a nexus of new threats--rogue states, terrorism, international crime, drug trafficking, and weapons of mass destruction. We must seize every opportunity for more people to enjoy peace, freedom, security, and prosperity, while at the same time, moving strongly and swiftly against the dangers they face.

• The CTBT is the shared work of hard negotiation. The signature of the world's declared nuclear power--the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom--along with those of the vast majority of its nations, will immediately create an international norm against nuclear testing. In light of these global realities, proponent of ACDA's disappearance or absorption by the Department of State seem grossly out of step with reality.

• ACDA brings to the table an expert and independent arms control perspective, one which often differs from the viewpoint of the Department of State. That is why ACDA was created. For example, in the 1960's, ACDA pressed for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The State Department initially opposed the original negotiation. ACDA's independent voice, then and now, serves to ensure a policy that is more fully informed and better framed to serve arms control and nonproliferation.

• ACDA has had a major impact. Allow me to enumerate some examples.

• ACEA insisted under the Salt I agreement that the Soviet Union be held to precise numerical limits on Backfires Bombers.

• In developing the INF Treaty, ACDA argued successfully for the development of irrefutable evidence of the nuclear capabilities of Soviet SS-23s in Eastern Europe.

• It was ACDA that provided the analysis that the Soviet Krasnoyarsk radar was in violation of the ABM Treaty, ultimately leading to its dismantlement.

• The same agency demanded the preservation of the Cobra Dane ground-based phased array radar at Shemya, Alaska, an asset essential for verifying Russian compliance with the START Treaties. The U.S. needs this radar to determine independently whether or not the Russians are testing new or modified missile systems.

• ACDA provided the positions leading toward a comprehensive test ban, including opposition to a `peaceful nuclear explosions' loophole, a zero-yield threshold, and no-first-test policy.

• The agency successfully retained the proper interpretation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, which was, in turn, instrumental in facilitating negotiation of the START treaties.

• ACDA is responsible for the present U.S. policy regarding landmines and their use.

• The decision to press for an effective, verifiable, and complete ban on chemical weapons, resulting in conclusion of the worldwide Chemical Weapons Convention in 1992, came about thanks to ACDA. Now, it remains for the Senate to ratify the convention. It should do so immediately.

• ACDA spearheaded U.S. Government efforts to conclude a ban on biological and toxin weapons in the early 1970's, followed in the 1990s by negotiations to enhance transparency and strengthen compliance with that ban.

• Since ACDA's initiation under President Eisenhower and its founding under President Kennedy, Republican and Democratic administrations have recognized that, to pursue arms control effectively, an independent, expert agency is essential.

• That consensus is now reflected in the number of arms control agreements painstakingly achieved by both Democratic and Republican administrations. For example:

• Start I--negotiated under President Reagan, ratified under President Bush, implemented by President Clinton; Start II, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Intermediate Nuclear Forces agreement, Conventional Forces in Europe agreement, and the Convention on Conventional Weapons. Let me add to that list the Chemical Weapons convention. This treaty has been ratified by 63 countries and, if the Senate does not move to ratify it, is likely to go into force without U.S. participation.

• The convention bans the production, sale and possession of poison gas weapons and requires signatory nations to destroy their existing stocks. It was negotiated under President Reagan and signed by President Bush. President Clinton has given the convention his full support. The remaining step is ratification by the Senate.

• Why is the convention so important? After the gulf war, we underestimated Saddam Hussein's ability to develop chemical weapons. It does not take a missile to bring about destruction. One person with a small vial can do that. Witness the impact of a small amount of Sarin gas in the Tokyo subway.

• We must not be lulled into thinking that arms control implementation and compliance can take care of itself or that the dangers of proliferation are overblown. We must continue to support a strong, independent, streamlined and effective Arms Control Disarmament Agency to pursue one of the Nation's most urgent missions in a transformed world.