On the recordApril 15, 2010
I rise today to talk about the threat posed by nuclear terrorism and the historic progress made by President Obama and his administration at the Nuclear Security Summit this week and some observations on Iran's nuclear program. The threat posed by so-called loose nuclear material is real. We know that more than 2,000 tons--2,000 tons--of plutonium and highly enriched uranium exist in dozens of countries with a variety of peaceful as well as military uses. There have been 18 documented cases of theft or loss of highly enriched uranium or plutonium--that is 18 documented cases-- throughout the world. In September of 1961, President Kennedy addressed nuclear weapons in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. He said: Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or madness. Today, the threat of a nuclear strike is more likely to come from terrorist actors, not a state.
