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[EXCERPTS] SECRETARY OF STATE ALBRIGHT
February 12, 1997

Although the Cold War has ended, the threat posed to Americans by weapons of mass destruction has not. Arms control and non-proliferation efforts remain a key part of our strategy to keep Americans safe.

The great arms control achievements of recent years -- the removal of nuclear weapons from Belarus, Kazakstan and Ukraine; the negotiation of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and a Chemical Weapons Convention; the indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty -- have all enjoyed bipartisan support.

With your support for this budget -- in particular for the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- we can continue our efforts to improve the security and prevent the diversion of fissile materials.

Our $36 million voluntary contribution to the IAEA helps that agency to verify compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in more than 820 locations in 61 countries. The IAEA supports our efforts in the most problematic countries, such as Iraq and North Korea, and achieves broader coverage than we ever could achieve if we tried to go it alone.

We have a major national interest in preventing states such as Iran from obtaining weapons of mass destruction. We will continue to oppose strongly the sale or transfer of arms and arms-related technologies to all such states. And we will maintain tough U.N. sanctions against Iraq unless and until it complies with the relevant Security Council resolutions. The subcommittee's decision to fully fund our contribution to the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) would ensure that Saddam Hussein's efforts to obstruct, evade and deceive U.N. inspectors continue to fail.

The 1994 Agreed Framework between the United States and North Korea froze that country's dangerous nuclear weapons program; its full implementation would completely dismantle that program. With our partners, we created the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) to implement key aspects of the agreement. Our earlier commitment helped jump-start KEDO and generated contributions from Japan and South Korea that will ultimately dwarf our own. KEDO now has 10 members -- and we will bring in at least three more this year to share the burden. But we must keep our commitment -- $30 million for 1998 -- to make sure others keep theirs.