Panel Suggests Giving Russia $30 Billion

Protect Arms Possible theft of nuclear material poses 'clear threat'

Walter Pincus / Washington Post 11jan01

Washington -- A blue-ribbon task force headed by two elder statesmen, Republican Howard Baker and Democrat Lloyd Cutler, recommended yesterday that the United States spend up to $30 billion over the next eight to 10 years to improve security over Russia's nuclear stockpile.

Arguing that the possible theft or sale of Russian nuclear materials presents "a clear and present danger . . . to American lives and liberties," the bipartisan panel concluded that U.S. spending on nuclear security programs in Russia should rise to about $3 billion a year from the current $700 million.

Russia has an estimated 40,000 nuclear weapons and more than 1,000 metric tons of nuclear material -- including highly enriched uranium and plutonium -- scattered at facilities across Russia, many of them with inadequate security.

The task force's report was released by Baker, a former Senate Republican leader from Tennessee who served as White House chief of staff in the Reagan administration, and Cutler, who was White House counsel in the Carter and Clinton administrations.

Baker said the panel's report had been given to Donald Rumsfeld, President- elect Bush's nominee for defense secretary. He added that he believes Bush and Vice President-elect Dick Cheney "share our conviction that this is one of the most important problems we face."

The task force, established early last year by Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, received U.S. intelligence briefings and visited Russian nuclear sites. While praising the Russian government for cooperating on nuclear security at many facilities, the Baker-Cutler report also warned that without greater transparency and access on the Russian side, "full success will not be achievable."

One way to accelerate the process, the report said, would be to consolidate Russia's estimated 40,000 nuclear weapons and its many tons of plutonium and highly enriched uranium into a smaller number of centralized storage facilities. Russian weapons are now spread over more than 100 storage sites.

Baker and Cutler acknowledged in an interview that congressional support for nuclear programs in Russia could be endangered by the Kremlin's promotion of its civilian atomic energy business, particularly through sales to Iran.

"The Russians think of their nuclear stockpile as gold" at a time when they are desperate for foreign trade, Baker said. But, he added, "even though we may be pouring money into a bottomless bucket, it's a gamble worth taking."