Byron Dorgan: “perhaps I do not understand all I should, and I certainly do not understand the term ``modernization of nuclear…”

“perhaps I do not understand all I should, and I certainly do not understand the term ``modernization of nuclear weapons.'' We have thousands of nuclear weapons in this world. We control thousands of them in this country. Modernization? It appears now in this debate to be a euphemism for building new nuclear weapons, designer nuclear weapons, usable nuclear weapons, the kinds of weapons you might use, for example, to bust into caves, the ground, bunker busters. That is the purpose of this amendment, to stop this march toward production of more nuclear weapons. This country ought to be leading in exactly the other direction. Let me read from Time magazine in March of 2002. For a few harrowing weeks last fall, a group of U.S. officials believed that the worst nightmare of their lives-- something even more horrific than 9/11--was about to come true. In October an intelligence alert went out to a small number of government agencies, including the Energy Department's top-secret Nuclear Emergency Search Team, based in Nevada. The report said that terrorists were thought to have obtained a 10-kiloton nuclear weapon from the Russian arsenal and planned to smuggle it into New York City. The source of the report was a mercurial agent code-named DRAGONFIRE, who intelligence officials believed was of ``undetermined'' reliability. But DRAGONFIRE's claim tracked with a report from a Russian general who believed his forces were missing a 10-kiloton device.”