THE Bush administration is being forced to consider what would have been unthinkable just a few months ago: giving up on its plans to develop new nuclear weapons, including bunker-busters and mini-nukes, after the US Congress cut funding for such research.
Congressional leaders surprised everyone last week by agreeing to a final government budget that sliced $57 million from nuclear spending in 2005. The decision came after days of frantic horse-trading behind closed doors, and was largely due to the efforts of David Hobson, a Republican representative from Ohio.
As chair of the Energy and Water Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, Hobson succeeded in cutting spending on two major nuclear weapons projects. He has accused President Bush of having 鈥渧ery provocative and overly aggressive policies that undermine our moral authority to argue that other nations should forego nuclear weapons鈥�.
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Hobson鈥檚 stand has been warmly welcomed by nuclear policy experts, who admit to being 鈥渇labbergasted鈥� by the funding cuts. 鈥淐ongress has taken a major step toward nuclear sanity,鈥� said Matt Bunn, a former adviser to the Clinton administration who is now at Harvard University.
The US Congress cut the entire $27 million budget for researching the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, a bunker-buster designed to plunge tens of metres into the ground before detonating a nuclear warhead. Funds for new facilities for making plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads have also been slashed from $50 million to $20 million. In addition, Congress instructed the Bush administration not to spend $9 million on 鈥渁dvanced concepts鈥� for nuclear weapons. This would have included research into mini-nukes 鈥� low-yield nuclear bombs that could be detonated without causing widespread contamination.
鈥淚t would be encouraging if the US administration abandoned its nuclear ambitions, but we can鈥檛 count on it鈥�
According to the US National Nuclear Security Administration, the $9 million would also have been used to develop better security systems and weapons that were 鈥渕ore environmentally friendly鈥�. Instead, Congress wants to spend the money improving the reliability of existing weapons. NNSA spokesman Bryan Wilkes told New 杏吧原创 the cuts and changes imposed by Congress were 鈥渧ery disappointing鈥�. 鈥淲e could ask for them again in the 2006 budget, or we could give up on them. We are going to have to wait and see,鈥� he said.
The suggestion that the NNSA might drop plans for bunker-busters and mini-nukes received a cautious response from the British American Security Information Council in Washington DC. 鈥淚t would be tremendously encouraging if the US administration abandoned its nuclear ambitions, but we can鈥檛 count on it,鈥� said BASIC鈥檚 deputy director, Matt Martin.