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OPENING STATEMENT
REP. CURT WELDON
CHAIRMAN
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SUBCOMMITTEE

HEARING ON SECURITY OF RUSSIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND MATERIALS

October 2, 1997

This morning, the Military Research and Development Subcommittee meets in open session to receive testimony on the security of Russian nuclear weapons and materials and steps that the U.S. government has taken to guard against the threat of nuclear proliferation from a disintegrating Russian military.

At yesterday's hearing on nuclear terrorism, we received testimony from Jessica Stern, former Director of Russian and Ukrainian Affairs on the Clinton Administration's National Security Council staff. Ms. Stern, who dealt with issues of Russian nuclear security and proliferation while serving on the NSC, is the inspiration for the character portrayed by Nicole Kidman in the just released movie Peacemaker, wherein terrorists threaten to blow-up New York City with a stolen Russian nuclear weapon. In yesterday's hearing, Ms. Stern was joined by Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, Director of the Office of Emergency Response Defense Programs at the Department of Energy. If a terrorist event such as portrayed in Peacemaker were to actually occur today, Ms. Gordon-Hagerty would be doing Nicole Kidman's job, coordinating our response to the terrorist threat.

In yesterday's testimony, both Ms. Stern and Ms. Gordon Hagerty affirmed that the potential proliferation of Russian nuclear weapons and materials, that could be used by terrorists or rogue states, is a serious threat that urgently needs to be accorded higher priority and more defense resources than are currently being allocated. In yesterday's hearing, we also heard from Judge William Webster, former Director of the CIA and FBI, who was joined by other panelists from the Center for Strategic and International Studies to talk about their just completed task force report Russian Organized Crime. Judge Webster and his colleagues said that their study found Russian organized crime has penetrated and corrupted the Russian military, greatly increasing the risk of the theft of nuclear weapons or materials.

For today's hearing, our two distinguished panelists are Senator Richard Lugar and Alexei Yablokov of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Senator Lugar, who really needs no introduction, as a senator and presidential candidate, has attempted to raise public consciousness about nuclear threats posed by rogue states, terrorists, and the proliferation of nuclear materials or weapons from Russia. Senator Lugar is widely respected as a leading authority on national security issues. He was the co-sponsor of the Nunn-Lugar cooperative threat reduction legislation that is often characterized as the first line of defense against the Russian nuclear threat.

Alexei Yablokov is a former science advisor on President Yeltsin's Russian Security Council and is presently a respected member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Yablokov has been an outspoken champion of environmental issues in Russia, and is particularly concerned about environmental and national security hazards that could arise from mismanagement of the Russian nuclear stockpile.

As a reknowned scientist who has been active in the Russian government, Dr. Yablokov has come into contact with Russian nuclear weapon scientists and engineers who have designed and managed Russia's nuclear arsenal. In recent press statements and a television interview, Dr. Yablokov said he can independently verify the existence of the small, man-portable "suitcase" nuclear weapons that Aleksandr Lebed, former Secretary of the Russian Security Council, has alleged are missing and possibly in terrorist hands.

Lebed's allegations about missing Russian nuclear weapons first came to light when I led a congressional delegation to Russia and met with Lebed on May 30. Lebed told us that, while still acting in his capacity as Secretary of the Russian Security Council, he had conducted a study of the Russian military's accounting for its nuclear weapons, and found that the military had lost track of 84 suitcase-sized nuclear bombs, any one of which could kill up to 100,000 people. The Russian government has officially denied the existence of such weapons. However, according to the transcript of the television interview with Dr. Yablokov, Russian TV ran video footage showing a "suitcase" nuclear bomb.

No one in the West, and few in Russia, know for sure whether dozens of small nuclear weapons, ideal for terrorist use, are unaccounted for and perhaps in the wrong hands. The important point is that increases in crime, corruption, incompe-tence, and institutional decay are so advanced in Russia that the theft of nuclear weapons, unthinkable in the Soviet war machine of the Cold War, seems entirely plausible in the Russia of today. The mere possibility that terrorists or rogue states may have acquired some Russian nuclear weapons should be a matter of gravest concern to the governments of the West.