Nuclear security gets big cutbacks
Experts question White House’s commitment
Just weeks before he heads to The Hague to meet with world leaders for the third Nuclear Security Summit, President Obama unveiled a budget that includes more than $220 million in cuts for nuclear security programs in the next fiscal year.
One of the biggest reductions will come to the International Material Protection and Cooperation program, which works to secure and eliminate vulnerable nuclear weapons and materials. Obama asked for $305.5 million, or $114 million less than was appropriated in the 2014 budget.
Obama also requested $108 million less than was appropriated last year for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, a program that plays a key part in the Energy Department’s effort at preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear and radiological materials that could be used in weapons of mass destruction.
With the proposed cuts, some nuclear security experts now question whether Obama, who made nuclear security a pet issue during his time in the Senate and launched the biennial Nuclear Security Summit process, remains committed to the issue.
“What I take away from this budget is that there was a lack of leadership in trying to maintain the prioritization of the funding of this issue,” said Kenneth Luongo, who served as senior adviser in the Energy Department on
WASHINGTON “The signal ... is we are in retreat on this issue, and I think that is a huge mistake.” Kenneth Luongo, former Energy Department senior adviser on non-proliferation issues in Clinton administration
non-proliferation issues during the Clinton administration and is now the president of the Partnership for Global Security. “The signal … is we are in retreat on this issue, and I think that is a huge mistake.”
Administration officials dismiss the notion that the budget reflects a loss of passion on the issue since Obama spoke during his 2009 visit to Prague about his vision for a nuclear-free world.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz noted with the budget’s release last week that the decrease in the nuclear non-proliferation budget is due in large part to the decision to shelve a project in South Carolina to convert weapons-grade plutonium into nuclear reactor fuel that proved to be too costly.
The decision to put the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, or MOX, on “cold standby” accounts for 54% of the decrease in the administration’s non-proliferation request. The facility was to play an important part in an agreement with Russia, where each side has committed to dispose of 34 metric tons of plutonium.