Former Defense Brass Object to ‘More Restrictive’ Nuclear Trade Policies

Steam is emitted from the cooling tower at the nuclear power plant in Tihange, Southeast of Brussels.

Steam is emitted from the cooling tower at the nuclear power plant in Tihange, Southeast of Brussels. Yves Logghe/AP File Photo

A half-dozen former U.S. national security leaders implored Obama to avoid tightening restrictions on foreign nuclear cooperation.

A half-dozen former U.S. national security leaders last month implored President Obama to avoid tightening restrictions on foreign nuclear cooperation in the interest of nonproliferation.

“The U.S. civil nuclear industry is one of [Washington’s] most powerful tools for advancing its nuclear nonproliferation agenda,” according to an April 25 letter obtained this week by Global Security Newswire.

“It is critical to adopt policies that will strengthen that tool,” the missive reads. “Weakening it will merely cede foreign markets to other suppliers less concerned about nonproliferation than the United States.”

The appeal to Obama reportedly was circulated for signature by the president and chief executive officer of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, John Hamre, according to sources familiar with the initiative. It appears on CSIS letterhead.

In addition to the one-time deputy Defense secretary, signatories include former national security advisers Brent Scowcroft and James Jones, former Defense secretaries James Schlesinger and William Cohen, and retired Adm. Michael Mullen, previously chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The letter cautions “against the adoption of policies that could inadvertently weaken the ability of the United States to continue to provide international leadership on this critically important issue,” though it stops short of naming specific policies the authors find objectionable.

A CSIS spokesman, H. Andrew Schwartz, on Wednesday said Hamre was on travel and could not respond to questions about the letter.

Issue experts, though, said the eight writers appear to be concerned about an ongoing Obama administration internal policy review regarding its approach to negotiating atomic trade pacts with other nations.

Lawmakers repeatedly have called on the federal branch to strengthen its pursuit of the so-called nonproliferation “gold standard,” in which a trade partner receives access to sensitive U.S. nuclear materials or technologies only in exchange for a promise not to produce atomic fuel on its own soil.

Enriching uranium or reprocessing plutonium can be used in civil nuclear power generation, but these activities also could open the door to a clandestine atomic weapons effort, as is widely suspected in Iran and elsewhere.

“It’s clearly what the letter is about,” said one congressional source who asked not to be named, lacking authorization to address the matter publicly. “But since they can’t bring themselves to say that, some lawmakers will wonder what they are talking about. Why are they so reluctant to be explicit about what new restrictions concern them?”

Some senior administration officials have said the gold standard should be pursued on a case-by-case basis, and for a brief period last year that appeared to be U.S. policy. A number of key members of Congress and nonproliferation advocates, though, have urged the Obama White House to advocate this type of pledge abroad more widely and vigorously.

The letter to Obama notes that the U.S. market share for nuclear exports has dropped precipitously over roughly the past two decades, leading to “substantially diminished U.S. influence in such areas as nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear safety.”

The former defense leaders argue that managing proliferation risk should continue to be customized for each trade partner rather than expanded more broadly.

“In order to restore its nonproliferation influence around the globe, the United States government must find ways to strengthen the competitiveness of the U.S. nuclear industry, and avoid policies that threaten to further weaken it,” the letter reads. “We therefore urge that, as part of your export control reform initiative, streamlining of the process for licensing civil nuclear exports be made a top priority.”

Some critics are already questioning, though, why the former national security leaders have set their sights on nonproliferation measures as a chief hindrance to U.S. nuclear sales overseas, when competitors such as France, Russia and South Korea enjoy financial advantages that substantially reduce their prices.

“The problem is not nonproliferation but foreign subsidies of [the] U.S. [industry’s] competitors,” said the congressional source. “That’s the real problem that needs to be solved.”

One gold-standard advocate, Henry Sokolski, questioned the letter’s contention that U.S. nuclear sales to foreign nations must be a principal vehicle for Washington in stanching proliferation.

“You'd think after our wretched experience with civil nuclear programs in Iran, India, Iraq, Pakistan and our past near-calls with Taiwan and South Korea's programs, this would be the last thing anyone truly opposed to nuclear weapons proliferation would push,” said Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center.

Sharon Squassoni, who directs the Proliferation Prevention Program at Hamre’s organization, has long encouraged stronger export control measures to help curb proliferation. Neither Schwartz, the CSIS spokesman, nor Squassoni responded to queries about whether the organization’s nuclear trade and nonproliferation experts were consulted when the text of the letter was drafted.

Squassoni did say, though, that she differs with the view that taking a case-by-case approach to demanding a no-fuelmaking promise from U.S. nuclear trade interlocutors would help streamline the export process. She contended that the opposite is true.

“The current hold-up on the U.S. side in moving forward with nuclear cooperation agreements is apparently due to a policy disagreement on whether or not to take a principled -- [or] nondiscriminatory -- approach or a case-by-case approach,” she told GSN in a written response to questions. “It is always cleaner to take a principled approach.”

By contrast, “taking a case-by-case approach encourages states to argue for the least stringent requirements based on political-military issues,” said Squassoni, who also serves as a CSIS senior fellow. “This occurs because so many governments treat these nuclear cooperation agreements as prestigious prizes, rather than the implementing frameworks they really are.”

The CSIS spokesman was asked if the former defense leaders’ letter to Obama might have a chilling effect on CSIS staff members whose views on nuclear trade and nonproliferation differ.

“[Hamre] signed the note in his private capacity as a former U.S. senior official. There is no connection to CSIS with regard to this matter,” said Schwartz, who serves as the organization’s senior vice president for external relations. “Dr. Hamre had it on his personal CSIS stationary, not official stationary, which has a masthead with all of CSIS’ trustees on it.”

NEXT STORY: Issa reboots DATA Act

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.