STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS (Senate - March 21, 1996)

Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, today along with my colleagues, Senators
Glenn, D'Amato, John Kerry, Bennett, and Feinstein, I am introducing
legislation in an effort to restore credibility to our Nation's
already damaged nuclear nonproliferation policy. Nonproliferation is
one of our most important national security concerns, if not the most
important. Even the President admitted last year that no issue is more
important to the security of all people than nuclear nonproliferation.


At present, our efforts in this area are tied to another vital goal:
the promotion of peace and security in South Asia. I have visited
South Asia. I have said before it is a region of striking contrasts--a
region of such enormous potential clouded by tension and instability.

As all of us well know, last year President Clinton requested, and
Congress agreed to, a one time exception and partial repeal of one our
most important nonproliferation laws: the so-called Pressler
amendment. The Pressler amendment, approved by Congress in 1985,
prohibits United States military and nonmilitary assistance to
Pakistan , including arms sales, so long as Pakistan possesses a
nuclear explosive device. The Senate had an extensive debate on this
subject last fall. As a result of last year's exception--known as the
Brown amendment--approximately 370 million dollars' worth of American
military goods is scheduled for delivery to Pakistan .

The Brown amendment was very controversial. The central point of the
controversy was the fact that the Brown amendment was both waiving and
repealing nuclear nonproliferation law without obtaining one concrete
nonproliferation concession from Pakistan . We have never provided
that kind of exception to any other country before. That was one of
the central reasons why I opposed the Brown amendment. I feared it
would send the worst possible message: Nuclear proliferation pays.

The Clinton administration lobbied the Congress quite heavily on the
Brown amendment. The administration even tried to convince Members of
Congress that Pakistan did make a nonproliferation concession. The
Clinton administration claimed its support for the Brown amendment was
based in part on an understanding it believed it had with the
Government of Pakistan . On August 3, 1995, Acting Secretary of State
Peter Tarnoff stated the context of this understanding in a letter to
the distinguished ranking member and former chairman of the Armed
Services Committee,

Senator Nunn:

Pakistan knows that the decision to resolve the equipment problem is
based on the assumption that there will be no significant change on
nuclear and missile non-proliferation issues of concern to the United
States.

Frankly, at the time, I felt the justification was too weak at best
and unbelievable at worst. I say that from the standpoint of
experience. You see, the Pressler amendment was passed with a similar
assurance from Pakistan . Let me remind my colleagues that the
Pressler amendment was designed to ensure that Pakistan --at that time
our Nation's third largest foreign aid recipient--continued to receive
United States assistance. We had an understanding that Pakistan would
not develop a bomb program, and in return, we would pass the Pressler
amendment so that our existing laws would not result in a United
States aid cutoff. As we all know, they did build a bomb program, and
continued to receive U.S. taxpayer dollars. So I had some serious
misgivings and a sense of foreboding when the Clinton administration
stated it was basing its support of the Brown amendment on an
assurance from Pakistan .

But that was then, this is now. Now we have a clear, unequivocal
statement by the Director of Central Intelligence that Pakistan did
not accept the administration's position in August. This is what
Director John Deutch told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
on February 22:

Mr. Chairman, the intelligence community continues to get accurate and
timely information on Chinese activities that involve inappropriate
weapons technology assistance to other countries: nuclear technology
to Pakistan , M-11 missiles to Pakistan , cruise missiles to Iran.