Dick Lugar: “I would not disagree, in response to the distinguished Senator, that it would be ideal for this verification to occur…”

“I would not disagree, in response to the distinguished Senator, that it would be ideal for this verification to occur, but I would simply respond that although we have been negotiating such verification for some time, the Russians have not agreed to do this. In other words, one reason that is not in this treaty is the negotiators have found resistance. I have found resistance. Other people have found resistance. These things open up tediously, sort of one by one. For example, after great pressure, I was taken on a small Russian aircraft to a plant where in fact there are warheads taken off of missiles, and they are stored almost like bodies in coffins side by side, lined there. Each one had a history of when the warhead was built, when it was taken off of the missile that would have conveyed it, when it was put there in storage, and some estimate as to its efficacy; that is, how long you can anticipate this warhead would actually be explosive. Much more ominous down the trail and something that I am pursuing is some sort of prediction as to when it might become dangerous. The difficulty--and the Senator knows this--is these warheads are unstable sometimes in terms of their chemical composition. They may not lie there in peace forever, like a sporting goods store situation of inert matter. That is the problem for the Russians. At some point they will have to move the warheads. So they already have a railway station secured.…”