- WASHINGTON -- A US department
of energy panel of experts which provided independent oversight of the
development of the US nuclear arsenal has been quietly disbanded by the
Bush administration, it emerged yesterday.
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- The decision to close down the national nuclear security
administration advisory committee - required by law to hold public hearings
and issue public reports on nuclear weapons issues - has come just days
before a closed-door meeting at a US air force base in Nebraska to discuss
the development of a new generation of tactical "mini nukes"
and "bunker buster" bombs, as well as an eventual resumption
of nuclear testing.
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- Ed Markey, a Democratic congressman and co-chairman of
a congressional taskforce on non-proliferation, said: "Instead of
seeking balanced expert advice and analysis about this important topic,
the department of energy has disbanded the one forum for honest, unbiased
external review of its nuclear weapons policies."
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- Neither the NNSA - part of the department of energy -
nor the 15 panel members returned calls seeking comment yesterday.
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- The NNSA advisory panel is made up of academics, retired
officials and business leaders.
-
- Although federal law requires regular open meetings and
publication of its reports, the energy department has not convened the
panel since May 2002. Its reports have not been released.
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- The statute establishing federal advisory committees
requires their dissolution to be officially gazetted in the federal register
but, according to Mr Markey, the NNSA panel was disbanded by a simple email
to its members.
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- Daryl Kimball, the head of the independent, Washington-based
Arms Control Association, said: "This will make the department of
energy and the NNSA even more opaque. It will be all the more difficult
to understand what they are planning to do."
-
- Hawks in the Pentagon and the energy department are pushing
for the development of tactical nuclear weapons with yields of less than
5 kilotons and hardened "bunker buster" nuclear bombs, designed
to penetrate deeply buried targets, where enemy leaders or weaponsmay be
hidden.
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- According to the leaked agenda for the Omaha meeting
in early August, Pentagon and energy department officials will discuss
how to test small numbers of these new weapons, and whether this will require
a break from the moratorium on nuclear tests.
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- Critics argue that the new weapons will blur the distinction
between conventional and nuclear arms, and trigger a new arms race.
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- "The Bush administration is considering policy changes
that will alter the role of nuclear weapons in national defence,"
Mr Markey said. "Given the importance and sheer complexity of the
issues raised ... why was the only independent contemplative body studying
nuclear weapons disbanded - and disbanded in such a surreptitious fashion?"
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2003
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1009497,00.html
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