送信者: "Kumao KANEKO" <kkaneko@eeecom.jp>
件名 : EEE会議（米国の新型核兵器開発の動き）
日時 : 2003年5月30日 1:01

各位殿

このところ米国政府が、超小型核爆弾（５キロトン以下）など新しいタイプの核兵器
の研究開発を促進しつつあり、議会もそのための予算を承認したとの情報が相次いで
いますが、本日のNew York Timesはこの点について注目すべき記事を掲げています。
小生、時間がないので十分分析できませんが、どなたかこの記事の概要を紹介してく
ださいませんか？
金子熊夫

*****************************************

Bush Administration Examines Steps to a Revamped Arsenal
By CARL HULSE and JAMES DAO


ASHINGTON, May 28 ・Backed by Congressional sentiment favoring a new
approach to nuclear weapons, the Bush administration is taking steps that
could lead to revamping the nation's cold-war-era atomic arsenal to meet
what officials describe as more imminent modern threats.

The House and Senate last week approved a series of provisions sought by the
White House and the Pentagon that could open the door to development of new
nuclear weapons. Administration officials say the changes, which include
relaxing a ban on research into smaller nuclear weapons, would not violate
any existing arms treaties, though that is disputed by others.

These initiatives have alarmed arms control advocates and Democrats in
Congress who say that the administration is determined to create a new
generation of nuclear weapons, potentially touching off an arms race as
other nations try to match American capability.

Critics of Bush administration nuclear policy were already deeply concerned
about the administration's opposition to ratification of the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty as well as indications from officials that new testing might
be needed to maintain the safety and reliability of the nuclear stockpile. A
secret nuclear policy document issued last year also suggested that new
weapons might be needed.

Taken together, these actions foreshadow potentially significant changes in
the nation's nuclear weapons policy.

Administration officials say that they have made no decision to produce the
first new nuclear weapons since the 1980's and that further Congressional
debate and approval would be needed to do so. But they say an enormous
nuclear capability to deter a rival superpower fortified with its own
intercontinental missiles could be an outdated concept in the current world
environment.

Instead, they say, a new generation of nuclear weapons may be needed to
destroy facilities that could be constructed underground where biological
and chemical weapons are being developed or stored.

"It is a return to looking at the defense of the nation in the face of a
changing threat," Fred S. Celec, deputy assistant to the secretary of
defense for nuclear matters, said of the push for authority to pursue a new
nuclear program. "How do you deter and dissuade potential enemies of the
United States from doing us harm? I don't know that we ought to eliminate
any tools in our inventory."

Mr. Celec and other officials said that existing, congressionally imposed
restrictions on research were chilling potential progress in the field of
nuclear weapons science.

Linton Brooks, chief of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said:
"We want to look at advanced concepts, not because we want to do anything in
the near term, but so that we can look at future options. But now we can't
do any sort of research without getting the lawyers involved."

Opponents are not reassured by promises by the administration that its sole
aim is the study of nuclear potential. They point to position papers,
testimony by officials and other declarations of the need for new nuclear
thinking.

"It is unrealistic to think we are going to go ahead and even test but not
use these nuclear weapons, particularly with the expressions and statements
that have been made by the administration," Senator Edward M. Kennedy,
Democrat of Massachusetts, said.

Mr. Kennedy and his allies, who in a series of votes last week were unable
to block the provisions that opened the door to new nuclear research, say
the push for new nuclear capacity is reckless and ill-conceived, given the
White House demand that other nations disavow nuclear force. In a floor
speech, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, called the
juxtaposition diabolical.

As it adopted a larger defense measure last week, the House eased a
10-year-old ban on research into smaller nuclear weapons while the Senate
lifted it entirely. Lawmakers also rejected proposals to block spending on
turning existing nuclear warheads into weapons capable of piercing
underground bunkers.

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