Adam Schiff: “this morning the North Korean Government acknowledged publicly for the first time that it has nuclear weapons. In a…”

“this morning the North Korean Government acknowledged publicly for the first time that it has nuclear weapons. In a statement issued by the North Korean Foreign Ministry, Pyongyang also said that it will boycott the six-party talks designed to end its nuclear program. North Korea's surprising declaration has again reminded us of the most pressing national security challenge that we face: the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the possibility that a terrorist group will acquire a nuclear bomb and use it against the United States. Earlier this week, my colleague, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) and I introduced the Omnibus Nuclear Nonproliferation and Anti-Nuclear Terrorism Act of 2005 to better enable the United States to prevent what Graham Allison of Harvard University has termed 'the ultimate preventable catastrophe.' I am pleased that we were joined as original cosponsors by 11 of our colleagues. Over the past several months, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) and I have consulted with a range of experts to produce a set of policies that we believe will be effective and which can be implemented quickly. Our bill will do the following: It creates an Office of Nonproliferation Programs in the White House to centralize budgetary and policy authority.”