Hearing of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology - H.R. 2631, the Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act
Interview
Hearing of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology - H.R. 2631, the Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act
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REP. AL GREEN (D-TX): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank the ranking member as well.
I thought that the ranking member acquitted himself well this morning. (Laughs.) I caught your performance.
Friends, it would seem to me that it's in the best interests of the communities of the world, meaning the nation-states, to work together on this type of endeavor. Can someone give me an indication as to how much cooperation we are receiving from the nation-states and, more specifically, which seemed to find it an issue that they don't want to work cooperatively on, or with us on?
MR. GRANT: Just in review of the Illicit Trafficking Database and the ITWG -- the standing technical working group that focuses on this issue -- there are 28 countries that are participating in the ITWG right now. Now, the ITWG is establishing practices in these countries, and again, it's on a voluntary basis to work with us and others who have perhaps a more robust capacity.
In terms of pointing to challenging areas, I think many of us are aware of where those spaces might be. The Black Sea region we're most interested in; we're certainly interested in the Middle East as well. And some of those countries have been less supportive to be involved in technical nuclear forensics, but it is a list that includes members from all continents.
Additionally, I think there is strong acceptance to recognizing the need to provide more detailed technical support or practices, if you will, procedurally, to assist countries to develop their technical nuclear forensics capability.
So these two forums, the ITD, the Illicit Trafficking Database, as it grows, based on the voluntary nature of the database, and then the ITWG are good forums to be strengthened and for participation from global partners.
REP. GREEN: And this may be beyond the scope of what you're here for, but it would help me if you can answer the question. It would seem to me that the detonation of a device of the magnitude that we're talking about would be harmful to the planet Earth as opposed to some place on the planet Earth. Is there some truth to what I've said?
MR. AOKI: Well, certainly, leaving aside the political impact, which would be devastating, and the local impact, which would be devastating, there would also be measurable effects that, you know, could be detected around the world. Again, we have some history of nuclear testing in the atmosphere. We know that even at locations that were many hundreds of miles away from the test site it was possible to identify radiation.
So in that concern, it would be true that there would be effects that would be observable and measurable a long distance away. Those are not -- once one gets to be beyond a certain radius from the site of the event, those are not catastrophic events -- catastrophic effects, but they are, you know, something that people would be aware of and would have real impacts on human health.
REP. GREEN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
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