THE WHITE HOUSE

                      Office of the Vice President
________________________________________________________________________ 
For Immediate Release                                    October 2, 1999


               STATEMENT OF VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE ON THE
                     COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY

     Washington, DC -- After more than two years delay, the Senate
Majority Leader yesterday suddenly scheduled a vote on the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty.  The only possible point of giving such an important
Treaty so few days debate on so few days notice after so much delay is
to cut the public out of the discussion.  Even so, we are going to do
everything we can to make sure the American people's voices are heard, 
and this Treaty is ratified.

     Banning all nuclear tests has been a bipartisan goal of American 
foreign policy since Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, and this Treaty
-- simply put -- will reduce the threat of nuclear war.  President
Bush stopped nuclear testing in 1992.  Nonetheless, today we have a
safe and reliable nuclear deterrent, and we have a program to maintain
that nuclear deterrent without testing.  So while the Treaty will not 
harm our nuclear capability, it will inhibit the development of more 
advanced nuclear weapons by other countries.   It will strengthen 
global efforts to halt proliferation of nuclear weapons, and constrain 
efforts of rogue states to develop their own nuclear arsenals.  At the 
same time, the Treaty will make it easier for us to detect nuclear 
tests worldwide.

     On the other hand, if we reject the treaty, it will not enter into
force for any nation.   China, which has signed the Treaty, would not
be constrained from testing a new generation of nuclear weapons.
India and Pakistan would be far less likely to heed our calls to end
testing.  The consequences to our national security could be dire 
indeed.

      The Treaty has the unanimous support of the President's National 
Security Team. It has been endorsed by four former Chairmen of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff from the Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton
Administrations.  Most important in a democracy, it has the
overwhelming support of the American people.

     In October of 1963, one year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, 
President Kennedy signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty -- banning nuclear
tests above ground, in the oceans, and in the atmosphere.  On that day,
he said: "This small step toward safety can be followed by others 
longer and less limited, if also harder in the taking."  This fight 
we face today -- to ban all nuclear testing -- is one of the hard steps
President Kennedy envisioned 36 years ago.  With courage -- with an
ear to the voice of the American people and an eye on the future of
our children -- I am confident we can take this hard step
together.  America's security in the new century depends upon it.

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