May 11, 1972
Page 16933
NOTICE OF COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN HEARINGS
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the Subcommittee on Arms Control, International Law, and Organization of the Committee on Foreign Relations will hold a hearing on Monday, May 15, 1972, on the need for a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty, including consideration of Senate Resolution 230 introduced by Senator KENNEDY, and Senate Resolution 273 introduced by Senators HART and MATHIAS. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m., in room 4221 of the New Senate Office Building.
This hearing follows upon hearings held in the Arms Control Subcommittee last summer on prospects for a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. In those hearings we heard testimony from administration witnesses and from outside experts on the current status of negotiations for a comprehensive test ban and on the technical issues involved.
The United States is firmly committed by the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 and the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 to work for a comprehensive nuclear test ban. The President himself has said that–
The United States supports the conclusion of a comprehensive test ban adequately verified.
As last year's hearings demonstrated, the scientific techniques of detection and identification of underground nuclear tests have improved dramatically in recent years. This progress clears the way for a fresh start in negotiations leading toward a comprehensive test ban-negotiations which have been stymied in the past by the problem of verification.
The benefits of a comprehensive test ban treaty are clear: Such a treaty would control the arms race in new offensive and defensive nuclear weapons development. It would spare the world of environmental dangers of large underground tests. It could also salvage the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968, which seems increasingly in jeopardy, since the nuclear powers would for the first time impose the same testing constraints on themselves that the 1968 treaty does on the non-nuclear powers. And a comprehensive test ban would also save us the millions of dollars which are now expended annually on underground tests of dubious value to our national security.
For all these reasons, I urged the administration last year to take new and bold initiatives to breathe life into its own stated commitment to work for a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty.
In the intervening period little appears to have been done to move toward this goal. The resolutions introduced by my distinguished colleagues would provide an opportunity for the Senate to place itself on record in support of such initiatives. The timeliness of the issue, as we approach an initial SALT agreement, is clear.
The witnesses at the hearing on May 15 will include Senators KENNEDY, HART, and MATHIAS in behalf of their respective resolutions, the Honorable Philip J. Farley, Deputy Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; Dr. Herbert York, dean of graduate studies, University of California at San Diego; Prof. Lynn R. Sykes, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory; Dr. Adrian S. Fisher, dean of the Georgetown Law School; Prof. Abram Chayes, Harvard Law School; and Mrs. Jo Pomerance, co-chairman of the Task Force for the Nuclear Test Ban.