Some scientists believe ‘nukes’ will bring about the end of earth

WASHINGTON, March 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In one of the most overt steps U.S. President George Bush's administration has taken towards building a new atomic arsenal, the Pentagon has asked the U.S. Congress to lift a 10-year ban on the development of small nuclear warheads, or "mini-nukes", a British paper reported Friday, March 7.

Buried in the defense department's 2004 budget proposals, sent to congressional committees this week, was a single-line statement that marks a sharp change in U.S. nuclear policy.

It calls on the legislature to "rescind the prohibition on research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons".

If passed by Congress, the measure would represent an important victory for radicals in the administration, who believe the U.S. arsenal needs to be overhauled to make it more "usable", and therefore a more meaningful deterrent, to "rogue states" with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), according to British daily The Guardian.

A Pentagon official said Thursday the research ban on smaller warheads "has negatively affected U.S. government efforts to support the national strategy to counter WMD, and undercuts efforts that could strengthen our ability to deter or respond to new or emerging threats".

Everet Beckner, deputy head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, told Congress Thursday, the administration counted to spend 21 million dollars (19 million euros) in fiscal 2004 developing these futuristic weapons, including nuclear bunker-busting bombs.

These bombs, capable of penetrating deep underground and eviscerating enemy command and control centers, ammunition dumps and secret leadership hideouts, are seen by some military experts as useful tools in fighting the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Testifying before the House Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Beckner said the administration was certain to continue theoretical and design work on one or more of such new-age weapons.

"These activities might proceed beyond the 'paper' stage and include a combination of component and subassembly tests and simulations to introduce an appropriate level of rigor to challenge our designers," he went on to say.

He added the research "might also culminate in an integral flight or laboratory test, or a subsequent decision to proceed with further development activities."

The program is centered around the so-called Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator that, in Beckner's words, "would enhance the nations ability to hold hard and deeply buried targets at risk."

Bush Administration ‘Hypocritical’

Democrats fought off earlier Republican attempts to lift the ban on research and development work on nuclear warheads under five kilotons (a third of the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima), fearing that the new weapons would lead to an end to the U.S. moratorium on nuclear testing, and to a new arms race.

John Spratt, a Democratic congressman and one of the authors of the ban on "mini-nukes", accused radicals in the Bush administration of hypocrisy, The Guardian said.

Spratt accused radicals in the Bush administration of hypocrisy

"My greatest concern is that some in the administration and in Congress seem to think that the United States can move the world in one direction while Washington moves in another - that we can continue to prevail on other countries not to develop nuclear weapons while we develop new tactical applications for such weapons, and possibly resume nuclear testing," Spratt said.

However, since the Republicans won back control of the Senate last year, the administration believes it is in a strong position to lift the "Spratt-Furse restriction", named after the two Democratic congressmen who proposed the ban in 1993.

"It's significant because this is the first time the administration - and it comes from the department of defense - has said it wants low-yield weapons," said Kathryn Crandall, a nuclear weapons expert at the British American Security Information Council.

She said the policy statement contradicted denials from administration officials that they had any ambitions to build new weapons.

An Unnamed Pentagon official told the British paper that a repeal of the research and development ban would not commit the U.S. to developing, producing and deploying new, low-yield warheads. "Such warhead concepts could not proceed to full-scale development, much less production and deployment, unless Congress authorizes the substantial funds required to do this," the official said.

The U.S. Senate never ratified the comprehensive test ban treaty, but the U.S. imposed a moratorium on testing in 1992.

Many arms experts expect the moratorium and the treaty to come under increasing pressure as work progresses on the new arsenal. "Here we have the administration in one of its more open steps so far," Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based arms control association, said.

"The only reason why the administration might want to pursue low-yield nuclear weapons is to develop a weapon they believe is less damaging to the immediate environment.

"In the strange logic of these people, it would be more 'usable' - the political costs, they believe, will be lower," he said.

The Pentagon's request to Congress comes only days after the disclosure of its plans to stage a conference in Omaha in August at which a range of new nuclear weapons, including "mini-nukes", is due to be discussed, and plans drawn up to develop them, test them, and persuade the public of the need for them.

Scientists are currently looking at the possibility of converting into bunker-busters two existing warheads - the B61 and the B83, according to administration officials.

The B61, which has selectable yields ranging from 0.3 kilotons to 300 kilotons, is a tactical thermonuclear gravity bomb that can be delivered by strategic as well as tactical aircraft - from B-52 and B-2 bombers to F-16 fighter jets.

The B83, whose yields range from one to two megatons, is designed for precision deliveries from very low altitudes, most likely by B-2 stealth bombers, military experts said. It has a nose cone capable of withstanding a supersonic-speed collision with concrete or steel and a delayed detonation to allow the aircraft to escape the blast.

The researchers' main task now is to find a way of hardening these bombs' shells to allow them to survive penetration through layers of rock, steel and concrete before detonating close to their deep underground targets, the officials said.

A feasibility report is due in three years. "However, we are looking at opportunities to reduce study time," Beckner said.