ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:96062602.WWE
DATE:06/26/96
TITLE:26-06-96  TERRORISTS WITH NUCLEAR MATERIALS POSE NEWEST WORLD THREAT

TEXT:
(CSIS, congressmen suggest steps to be taken) (390)
By Vance Phillips
USIA Staff Writer

Washington -- Nuclear materials falling into the hands of terrorist
nations is the "greatest post-Cold War threat" facing the world today,
according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
and congressional leaders.

In a June 25 briefing at CSIS, Senator Sam Nunn, ranking member on the
Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Committee on Permanent
Investigations, said the "number-one threat to national security is
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

In order to combat this threat, Nunn said, the following steps must be
taken:

-- continue efforts to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction;

-- improve existing border control procedures;

-- train, equip and teach U.S. local officials how to deal with
situations involving chemical weapons; and

-- better coordinate U.S. and international efforts in dealing with
the threat posed by nuclear materials.

"In order to better equip, train and inform federal, state and local
officials, myself, Senators Richard Lugar, Pete Domenici have proposed
an amendment that will provide the Department of Defense (DOD) and the
Department of Energy (DOE) with an estimated 230 million dollars in
funds which will be used to educate officials in ways to respond to
situations involving nuclear, radiological, chemical and biological
materials," the senator added.

Congressman William McCollum (R-Florida), a member of the House Select
Committee on Intelligence, said "terrorists are the clientele -- for
those who sell nuclear materials -- that have the potential to make
the next century for the U.S. and the world."

McCollum emphasized the need for the United States to develop a
"missile defense system in order to repress warheads (filled with
chemical weapons) launched by rogue nations."

Arnaud de Borchgrave, director of the CSIS Project on Global Organized
Crime, stated that the "100 some odd Russian nuclear material storage
facilities have inadequate security systems which are growing weaker
each day. It will take six to 10 years to raise the security levels to
an acceptable standard."

Borchgrave said discussions with Russian officials have revealed that
"a number of the estimated 200 Russian organized crime syndicates have
attempted to infiltrate the storage facilities in an effort to acquire
fissile materials to be sold on the black market."

He stressed that "questionable accounting" records have made it
difficult to monitor the existing levels of nuclear materials.
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