Given the shocking possibility that Russian nuclear suitcase bombs may even now be smuggled
into the United States,
I hope the administration reverses its neglect of the
experimental wide area tracking system [WATS] being developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
In a hearing before this subcommittee on nuclear
terrorism and countermeasures held on October 1, 1997, the WATS system was
profiled in the hope of promoting its development. WATS currently offers the only
technology under development capable of detecting a nuclear weapon being smuggled
into the United States.
Ironically, after the WATS presentation was warmly received by the R&D
Subcommittee, the administration cut WATS funding to a subsistence level and reorganized the program in ways deleterious to its development. I cannot
understand how the administration, which has often objected to national missile
defenses on grounds that nuclear terrorism poses a bigger threat, can then neglect
the only technology that offers any hope of defense against nuclear terrorism.
What is the justification for keeping America defenseless against both nuclear
missiles and nuclear terrorists?
I have come to expect inconsistency and wishful
thinking, unfortunately, from the administration.
Please note Post 169.