and materials which would have taken years to acquire to build a WMD weapon could be stolen in an instant.

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, the problem of preventing WMD proliferation has gained both a new urgency and a greater complexity. The FBI's assessment of the anthrax attacks which have plagued the Senate and the Nation's mail may have been perpetrated by a lone disgruntled scientist, demonstrates how a weapon that had only been in the hands of a state can now be wielded by a single terrorist. Weapons that we previously worried about being delivered by an intercontinental ballistic missile we now know can be infiltrated into our midst without any advance warning.

We are faced with the prospect of spending billions of dollars to protect our homeland against multiple threats from multiple sources. Nonproliferation programs, the subject of today's hearing, are a critical means to prevent weapons, materials, equipment, and technology from falling into the wrong hands.

I want to thank again our colleague, Senator Hagel, for being here to discuss this proposal to achieve a national strategy and improve coordination between the various nonproliferation programs. His legislation, the Nonproliferation Coordination Assistance Act, would establish a coordinating body to ensure that nonproliferation activities are efficient, effective, and further national interests.

The Departments of State, Defense, and Energy have asked that their testimony be postponed until after President Bush's summit with President Putin. We have agreed to this and will reschedule their testimony in the near future.

In our discussion of current and future nonproliferation plans and the ways to improve and better coordinate them, we must keep in mind two questions. First, how can we adapt to ever-changing WMD threats? And second, are our plans and policies making the world more secure? I look forward to hearing our witnesses' comments on these two questions.

At this time, I would like to yield to my friend, Senator Domenici, for his statement.

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR DOMENICI

Senator DOMENICI. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Senator Hagel, I am pleased to be here adding some positive thrust to your legislation. I want to compliment you and the Chairman for holding this hearing. In addition, I want to compliment Senator Hagel for his proposed legislation. It has a very simple title but a very profound process is involved in this. It is called Nonproliferation Assistance Coordination Act of 2001.

The importance of nonproliferation programs with the former Soviet Union should not be open to question. The collapse of the Soviet Union ended the Cold War, but it also tremendously increased the risk that materials and expertise for weapons of mass destruction could contribute to new threats to global stability. For a country which relied on guards and guns to protect secrets and material, it was a jolting transition to a new situation where it was not clear if the guards, that is, if they were even still present, were

The current war on terrorism is critically dependent on minimizing the extent of the threat that terrorists can mount. Preventing their access to weapons of mass destruction must be one of our highest priorities.

Many nonproliferation programs were created, all with the best of intentions. Each program has well-stated goals. But these programs frequently are intertwined and interrelated in various complex and difficult ways. There could be no question that better coordination among the programs would lead to enhanced effectiveness, as well as potential cost efficiencies.

The Nunn-Lugar-Domenici legislation-it is also obviously in Nunn-Lugar, but this followed it by a few years, in 1996-called for a nonproliferation coordinator for all these programs. The administration at that time chose to ignore that. After the legislation's call for a coordinator expired in 1999, I helped with further legislation for this coordinator in amendments to previous Defense Authorization Acts, again to no avail. There was nobody worried enough about it, and clearly the Executive Branch did not think it was a big enough or a powerful enough issue.

Numerous committees have called for this coordination and have studied it. John Deutch chaired one of these committees. More recently, the superb effort from Senator Howard Baker and the Hon. Lloyd Cutler again called for this coordination. That is a current report, Mr. Chairman. For everybody on this staff that is interested in moving this issue along, that is "must reading." It is very current and has many current evaluations and studies in it. My friend, Chuck Hagel, is totally familiar with it, I am sure.

In an amendment to the current defense authorization bill, I called for tighter coordination. I was pleased to develop that amendment with Senator Hagel, he might recall, building on the same bill that you are discussing here today. In addition to Senator Hagel, Senators Lugar, Biden, Bingaman, and Landreau joined us in cosponsoring it. All I can say is that it was unfortunate, but no action was taken on that amendment due to confusion in the minutes before the Senate voted on the defense authorization bill.

Now I understand that the Armed Services Committee is working in conference to incorporate the themes of that amendment. But I am very pleased that while that is stalemated somewhere, you are giving birth to the idea with your bill here today. I do hope it is given every consideration and I hope you pursue it with vigor. It is very, very important.

We can't forget about this coordination as terrorism gets closer and closer on the television monitors of Americans. There is an awful lot of terrorism potential when you think about what can be put together with all of the leftover Soviet materials and all of the material that comes from dismantlement programs. Clearly there are risks that come with the Soviet Union's turning out to have a very different amalgamation of programs. Clearly they have a difficult time finding money to pay just the ordinary kinds of expenditures to maintain control over these materials and expertise to avoid it spreading all over the world.

There can be many examples where we needed this improved coordination. One of the immediate concerns involves the very vital

tween the United States and Russia. The recent suggestion from the National Security Council that this program might be modified, along with strong budget signals that we are wavering in our support for the program, has introduced some great uncertainties. Failure to coordinate this complex program has led to some very serious issues which threaten to derail the entire effort in terms of plutonium disposition with Russia.

We are now seeing the Governor of South Carolina, incidentally, refusing to accept plutonium from Rocky Flats and a German company withdrawing their offer to assist Russia with the MOX program because the administration has injected some really serious uncertainty by saying the program did not work by not having one to take its place. We saw a collapse of the efforts to obtain international funding for the program in Russia. Coordination could have avoided all these problems.

In conclusion, I strongly concur, Mr. Chairman, with Senator Hagel and many of our colleagues that a far better coordination is needed across the government for our nonproliferation programs with the former Soviet Union.

I might say that I am privileged to serve on a board of directors of a nonprofit corporation that is called the Nuclear Threat Initiative. That was set up with a $50 million a year pledge, I do not know how many years, but it will be a number of years, perhaps 5 years, or $250 million. I note that one of those who are working with Sam Nunn is Laura Holgate, sitting in the front row. She is going to be on our next panel. It has been a pleasure working with Ted Turner, Senator Lugar, and former Senator Nunn, and some other distinguished people, and we are going to make some real headway in terms of getting the world moving with reference to nonproliferation.

We commented at our last board meeting that does not mean that we do not need government's action. Quite to the contrary. The reason some of the things are being done by that nonprofit is because our government has failed and they have not done some things they ought to be doing. So this is one of them, to get started on coordinating our own programs.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Senator Hagel. Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Senator Domenici. Thank you for your statement.

Senator Cochran, may I yield to you if you have a statement.

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR COCHRAN

Senator COCHRAN. Thank you very much. I ask unanimous consent that my prepared statement be placed in the record as if read. Senator AKAKA. Without objection, it will be placed in the record. [The prepared opening statement of Senator Cochran follows:]

PREPARED OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR COCHRAN

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to join you in welcoming Senator Hagel and our other witnesses to today's hearing on the United States' nonproliferation and threat reduction assistance programs in the former Soviet Union. I appreciate the fact that Senator Hagel is taking the time to be here with us despite the fact that he has another hearing to attend and so I will make just a brief statement.

We have in place already several nonproliferation programs which are important tools that contribute to the effort to control the proliferation of weapons of mass de

struction. But, I think we must do more to deal with this serious problem which threatens our nation and other nations as well.

The bill before us today is designed to strengthen and improve the implementation of these programs by the U.S. Government. S. 673 would create a committee within the Executive Branch with the responsibility of monitoring and coordinating U.S. policies in the former Soviet Union.

I commend Presidents Bush and Putin for their statements yesterday reiterating their strong commitments to cooperation in this area of concern. It is clear that the Bush Administration places a high priority on these programs and is working, as the White House press release stated, to "ensure that existing efforts serve priority threat reduction and nonproliferation goals, as efficiently and effectively as possible.

I look forward to today's testimony on this very important topic and to our future hearings on this subject.

Senator COCHRAN. Mr. Chairman, let me just welcome my good friend and colleague from Nebraska. I appreciate the fact that he is here today to talk about his new initiative in the proliferation area, trying to control more effectively the spread of weapons of mass destruction. I cannot think of a more important subject for him to work on than that, and to looking at who is cosponsoring the legislation with him, it makes me realize that we need to take this very seriously. I am certain that it is a proposal that has been carefully reviewed and thought out and the Congress should pay close attention to this suggestion. We appreciate your taking time to come and testify before the Subcommittee.

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Senator Cochran.

Again, I want to welcome you, Senator Hagel, and I want to thank you for taking the time to be with us today to discuss S. 673, the Nonproliferation Coordination Assistance Act of 2001. If you are ready for your statement, we will be glad to hear it.

Senator HAGEL. I am, Mr. Chairman.

Senator DOMENICI. Mr. Chairman, could I become a cosponsor? Would you let me do that today and you note it in the record? Senator, I would like to be a cosponsor.

Senator HAGEL. Thank you.

Senator AKAKA. Fine.

Senator DOMENICI. Thank you very much.

TESTIMONY OF HON. CHUCK HAGEL,1 A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF NEBRASKA

Senator HAGEL. Mr. Chairman, thank you, and to my friends, Senator Cochran, and Senator Domenici, thank you. What I am going to present today, Mr. Chairman, is essentially an effort that has worked from and off of the leadership of Senators Domenici, Lugar, Nunn, and Cochran and so many of my senior colleagues who have been not just working on this general issue, but trying to frame it in a way to call attention to the relevancy and the real dynamic of the threat of terrorism. That, of course, as Senator Domenici noted, has now been moved from a threat to a reality as of September 11, and hence, the timeliness and the importance of these kinds of issues, most specifically nonproliferation, is beyond just urgent but it is now of necessity that the Congress of the United States deal with this.

1 The prepared statement of Senator Hagel with an attachment appears in the appendix on

What I have done in the bill that I put together a few months ago was essentially reframe much of the work of Senators Domenici, Lugar, Biden, Cochran, and others with their support, with their concurrence, and with their encouragement. And so I want to acknowledge them as I begin to lay out what my bill would do, Mr. Chairman, because essentially, it is because of their efforts and those who have gone before me that I have been able to do this. A few months ago, I introduced, as you noted, the Nonproliferation Assistance Coordination Act to address the coordination of nonproliferation efforts in Russia and the former Soviet Union. Senators Lugar and Biden were original cosponsors of this legislation and we will include, of course, Senator Domenici, as well.

This legislation was divided into eight sections. Section four of this bill establishes a Committee on Nonproliferation Assistance at the assistant secretary level or higher, to be chaired by a senior representative of the National Security Council and comprised of representatives from the Departments of State, Defense, Commerce, and Energy.

I would also note, Mr. Chairman, that I take no particular pride in my colleagues' or others' efforts to strengthen, improve, restate, and restructure what I have laid out here and I am certain that can be done. I introduced this bill not because of any territorial sense of prerogatives as to who chairs anything, but rather to try to bring some accountability to this issue, and you will hear from witnesses, especially GAO and other administration witnesses that you noted later on, that will have their own sense of this bill and will come forward, I am sure, with a more effective way to structure the bill.

Section five sets out the duties of the Subcommittee. Section six relates to administrative support. Section seven protects confidentiality of information.

Mr. Chairman, it has been 10 years since the Congress took the important step to help reduce the threat of nuclear chaos emerging from the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Under the foresight and leadership of Senators Nunn and Lugar, Congress established the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, authorizing funding through the Department of Defense budget to assist with the safe and secure transportation, storage, and dismantlement of nuclear, chemical, and other weapons in the former Soviet Union.

We are aware of that. It has been alluded to especially in the remarks of Senator Domenici. And upon that first important piece of legislation, we build the next stage of the Nunn-Lugar effort. And as Senator Domenici noted, the next stage of that came in 1996, when Senator Domenici joined with Senators Lugar and Nunn to further define and refine Nunn-Lugar.

Thousands of nuclear warheads have been deactivated and missiles dismantled in Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Russia. In the past 10 years, the Nunn-Lugar initiative has grown into a multi-pronged effort by the Departments of Defense, State, and Energy to ensure that weapons of mass destruction, weapons-usable material and technology, and weapons-related knowledge in Russia and the Newly Independent States remain beyond the reach of ter