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Inside the Pentagon, May 6, 1999
copyright Inside the Pentagon
republished with permission

HELMS COMMITTEE WANTS MORE UNCLASSIFIED INFO
IN ARMS CONTROL REPORT

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jess Helms thinks if a country is guilty of violating an arms control agreement, the American public should know about it. Helms' committee has written language into its State Department authorization report calling for more unclassified information in the annual report the president sends to Congress that details how other nations are living up to their arms control agreements.

According to existing law, the reports are to show in unclassified form, to the extent possible, any and all compliance questions that arise. "Although the committee understands the need to protect sensitive intelligence information and information on diplomatic initiatives, it rejects the argument that the confidentiality clause of the START Treaty, in and of itself, bars public identification of violations of that treaty," the committee said in its State Department authorization report. In years past the annual report, called a "Pell" report after former committee chairman Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-RI), had specific unclassified information on compliance issues, the committee said.

"In recent years, however, the unclassified section of the annual 'Pell report' has dwindled," the committee wrote. "The most recent report does not have an unclassified mention of any specific violation under the START Treaty, for instance. The committee urges the administration to include in the current annual report, which is now overdue by three months, an unclassified section assessing specific compliance questions."

The committee also wants unresolved compliance issues included in each succeeding report so that the issue will not be "forgotten." -- Thomas Duffy




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