DATE=10/4/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON-TEST BAN (L-UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-254650
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  President Clinton is warning it would be a 
"grave mistake" if the U-S Senate fails to ratify the 
global nuclear test ban treaty in a vote expected 
October 12th.  V-O-A's David Gollust reports from the 
White House.

TEXT:  Mr. Clinton convened his national security 
advisers for a strategy session on what they admit 
will be an uphill battle to get the third-thirds 
Senate majority needed for ratification.

After blocking action on the treaty for two years, 
Republican leaders in the Senate agreed to hold a vote 
next week in a maneuver officials here say will 
preclude adequate hearings and debate.

With reporters present for the start of the meeting, 
the President acknowledged that pro-treaty forces are 
short of votes and promised to do everything he can to 
change the equation by next week.

He warned that rejection of the treaty will cost the 
United States its leadership role in disarmament 
efforts, and encourage additional countries to try to 
acquire nuclear weapons: 

            /// CLINTON ACTUALITY ///

      For decades the United States has led the world 
      against proliferation.  And if the United States 
      Senate votes this treaty down, it would be a 
      signal that the United States now wants to lead 
      the world away from the cause of non-
      proliferation.  We would be giving a green light 
      to all these other people.

            /// END ACT ///

Republicans argue the test ban would eliminate the 
United States' ability to assure the reliability of 
its nuclear deterrent or to modernize forces to 
counter future threats.  Senator John Warner also told 
reporters it would be difficult or impossible to 
detect cheating by treaty signatories:

            /// WARNER ACT ///
      
      There's only so much we can verify.  And that's 
      not the fault of the Administration.  But the 
      scientific community has put together the best 
      monitoring program that it knows, and still it's 
      difficult to determine - in deep underground 
      situations - what another nation is doing.

            /// END ACT ///

White House officials said they had no information to 
back up weekend news reports that Russia, despite its 
renunciation of testing, may have secretly conducted 
low-yield nuclear detonations. But they said if the 
accounts were true, the treaty would make such 
activity easier to detect because of its provisions 
for worldwide monitoring stations and on-site 
inspections.

The United States has not tested a nuclear device 
since 1992. Mr. Clinton says the reliability of U-S 
weapons is not in doubt, however, because of a four-
and-a-half billion dollar-a-year program employing 
super-computer simulations to test critical weapons 
systems. (Signed)

NEB/DAG/TVM/gm



04-Oct-1999 17:32 PM EDT (04-Oct-1999 2132 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.