Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank and congratulate my colleagues on the Homeland Security Committee and Chairman Thompson, and my colleague from California, Mr. Lungren. I appreciate all their support. The committee has taken an important step forward in preventing nuclear terrorism by persevering with this legislation. I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into it.

Countries around the world now have access to technology that was once the realm of the few, and dangerous nuclear materials are sprinkled around the world. It seems that each week brings evidence of the connection between North Korea and a serious nascent nuclear program, and we are still unraveling the details of the nuclear smuggling ring headed by A.Q. Khan 5 years after it was uncovered.

This is not a new problem. Illicit nuclear material has been intercepted in transit out of the former Soviet Union many times since the end of the Cold War, and the material we catch is surely just a small fraction of the total amount trafficked.

Last week, Graham Allison wrote in Newsweek that ``the only thing that can keep nuclear bombs out of the hands of terrorists is a brand new science of nuclear forensics.'' During the Cold War, we forestalled a Soviet nuclear attack with the threat of retaliation. But the decentralized flexible terror networks that we face today are not as easily deterred. A terrorist attack will also not leave a missile contrail pointed back toward those responsible.

As Allison writes: ``The key to a new deterrent is coming up with some way of tracing the nuclear material backward from an explosion in New York City, for example, to the reactor that forged the fissile material, even to the mines that yielded the original uranium ore.'' The Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act is designed to do just that. The act is aimed at decisionmakers in North Korea, Pakistan, Iran and elsewhere who could sell nuclear material, as well as the smugglers and corrupt officials around the world who could steal it. Those parts of the nuclear network can be deterred by the knowledge that if their material is found, the U.S. will find out and hold them responsible.

The first part of this bill expands our ability to determine the source of nuclear material by authorizing the National Technical Nuclear Forensic Center in the Department of Homeland Security. This center will coordinate the various agencies and ensure an efficient, combined response when nuclear material is intercepted or, God forbid, used in a weapon. It will also advance the science of nuclear forensics, bringing in new radiochemists and physicists to rejuvenate a rapidly aging workforce, and funding research on new methods to identify materials.

But this bill also has another purpose. As with fingerprints or DNA, the strength of nuclear forensics depends on the strength of our database. Nuclear material can come from many nations, some friendly, some unfriendly, and the individual recipes are closely guarded secrets. However, little of the information needed for forensics is of direct use to adversaries, so in many cases the risk of not sharing the data is much greater than the risk of sharing it.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. CARNEY. I yield the gentleman an additional 90 seconds.

Mr. SCHIFF. To build a nuclear forensics database, the bill asks the President to negotiate agreements with other nations to share forensic data on their nuclear materials, both civilian and military. This effort is vital, and the National Technical Forensic Center must play a key role in the negotiations to ensure that the data we obtain is the data necessary for quick attribution and response.

Nuclear terrorism is a vague threat of devastating consequence and, therefore, difficult to guard against. But as communications and transportation revolutions bring us ever closer to our allies, they bring us closer to our enemies as well. I believe this bill will help make sure that our ability to prevent a nuclear attack keeps up with our enemies' ability to prosecute one.

Again, I want to thank Chairman Thompson for his leadership and urge all Members to support the bill.

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