WHITE HOUSE EARNS “D”/HASC EARNS “C-” ON NUCLEAR TERRORISM PREVENTION FUNDING
A New Report Card by the Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation
The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation released its first “report card” on non-proliferation and nuclear terrorism prevention funding for Fiscal Year 2015.
The White House earned a “D” and the House Armed Services Committee earned a “C-” for their Fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill.
“President Obama has often stated that a mushroom cloud over Manhattan is what keeps him up at night but his budget request slashed hundreds of millions of dollars from critical programs that keep dangerous nuclear and radiological materials out of the hands of terrorists,” said Kingston Reif, the Center’s Director of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Programs. “Millions in cuts and poor planning will mean that key target goals to secure materials and protect facilities will slip.”
“While the House Armed Services Committee authorized that same level of funding as the White House’s request, the Committee significantly increased funding for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative and verification research and development, resulting in a higher grade,” added Reif. “However, the Committee also slashed funding for nuclear security programs in Russia. It also added counterproductive limitations on nuclear security cooperation with Moscow, which retains the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear materials and facilities, much of it still in need of heightened security.”
The report card examines and grades the funding request and authorization for six non-proliferation programs and two projects. Explanation of the programs and the grading is available at: http://bit.ly/CACNPFY15ReportCard.
“Preventing nuclear proliferation and terrorism is one of the most pressing issues affecting U.S. national security,” added communications director, James Lewis. “On such a critical topic, we felt it was important to unpack the complicated budgets into something that was easily recognizable and more accessible than a budget spreadsheet.”
Kingston Reif and other members of the Center’s staff are available for further comment on Fiscal Year 2015 nuclear non-proliferation and terrorism prevention program funding and other topics related to arms control or the Congressional budget process.
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The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation is a Washington-based non-profit think tank working to reduce the number of nuclear weapons stockpiled across the globe, increase international nonproliferation programs targeted at preventing the further proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism, redirect U.S. military spending to address 21st century security threats and halt the proliferation of biological and chemical weapons. www.armscontrolcenter.org
