Lynn C. Woolsey: “stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction and keeping the American people safe must be our highest priority. On…”

“stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction and keeping the American people safe must be our highest priority. On that point, President Bush and I agree. Where we differ is how to avoid equating our security with aggression and military force. I have introduced legislation to create a SMART Security Platform for the 21st century. SMART stands for Sensible, Multilateral American Response to Terrorism. SMART Security calls for aggressive diplomacy, a commitment to nuclear nonproliferation, strong regional security arrangements and vigorous inspection regimes. SMART Security would maintain the United States commitment to existing international treaties, like the treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, which the United States became a state party to in 1970, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the U.S. signed in 1996, but never ratified. Both treaties are vital to international security interests. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is the only binding commitment to disarm nuclear weapons by states that possess them. The goal of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is simple: to ban all testing of nuclear weapons.”