Bush Cuts

["Ken Hanly" <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Budget Cut for Russia Nuke Program
March 13, 2001
By H. JOSEF HEBERT

WASHINGTON (AP) - A program to help Russia safeguard its nuclear materials
is
facing deep budget cuts by the Bush administration, although a bipartisan
commission recently called these efforts essential to protecting U.S.
national security.

President Bush's proposed fiscal 2002 budget, now being put together, would
cut spending for Russia nuclear nonproliferation activities by more than $72
million, government and private sources who have seen the numbers said
Thursday.

The Energy Department had planned to increase the program, which the Clinton
administration had earmarked for a 50 percent increase to $1.2 billion for
the fiscal year that will begin Oct. 1.

The final funding levels will be set in Congress, where some lawmakers
already were expressing concern.

``Dramatic cuts to these programs ... may cripple our efforts to secure
nuclear material in Russia and ensure that Russia's nuclear physicists are
gainfully employed in non-defense related industries,'' Rep. Ellen Tauscher,
D-Calif., wrote to Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security
adviser.

Tauscher is a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

The cuts were ordered by the White House, despite several attempts by Energy
Secretary Spence Abraham to obtain more money, said the sources, who spoke
on
condition of anonymity.

In January, a bipartisan commission issued a report calling the risk of
theft
of Russian nuclear materials ``the most urgent unmet national security
threat'' facing the United States and urged sharp increases in spending for
the Russia nonproliferation programs.

The Energy Department initiatives targeted by budget cutters include
programs
aimed at enhancing security at Russia's nuclear weapons facilities,
providing
help to economically strapped Russian nuclear scientists and helping Russia
convert weapons-grade plutonium to less threatening materials.

While changes may still be made in the funding levels before President Bush
sends his final fiscal 2002 budget to Congress, several attempts by the
department to get additional money have been rebuffed by the White House
Office of Management and Budget, the sources said.

``This budget signals a retreat from a decade worth of work with Russia to
secure nuclear weapons expertise and materials,'' said William Hoehn of the
Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory Council, a nonproliferation
advocacy group.

According to the latest DOE budget document, programs to increase security
at
Russia nuclear facilities would be cut by $31 million to about $170 million.
The Energy Department had sought an increase to $225 million.

A program aimed at finding jobs and getting economic assistance to Russian
nuclear scientists would be cut by $20 million to about $7 million,
according
to the sources.

Bush will ask for more money to dispose of Russia's excess plutonium stocks,
but the amount falls far short of the proposed doubling of the $226 million
program that the Clinton administration had proposed, the sources said.

The bipartisan commission included experts in nuclear nonproliferation and
national security and was chaired by former GOP Senate Majority Leader
Howard
Baker and former Democratic White House counsel Lloyd Cutler.

Others on the panel included Former Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia and former Rep.
Lee Hamilton, both Democrats and widely respected experts on national
security and nuclear nonproliferation.

Their report, requested by the Energy Department, concluded that the risks
of
Russian nuclear materials being obtained by terrorists or hostile states is
significant and real.

The report urged stepped up spending for programs to help Russia safeguard
these materials and help Russia's atomic scientists, some of whom are facing
dire economic times in the post-Cold War era, find jobs.

It said $30 billion is needed over the next 10 years to do the job, adding
that such spending would be a prudent investment in U.S. and world security.