U.S. urged to boost nuclear vigilance

WASHINGTON —  President-elect Barack Obama will probably confront a biological or nuclear attack at home or abroad if the U.S. and its allies do not act decisively to prevent it, according to a report released this week by a panel created by Congress.

The report found that the U.S. had taken important steps to counteract nuclear proliferation and, to a lesser extent, biological terrorism, but had “not kept pace with growing risks.”

The nine-member, bipartisan commission presented its conclusions Wednesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Obama’s nominee for Homeland Security secretary.

“We have been losing ground, and we are less secure today than we have been in the recent past,” said former Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), the commission chairman.

The report concluded that biological agents posed the most imminent threat to the U.S. among weapons of mass destruction. The spread of biotechnology, and the corresponding rise of poorly secured and regulated pathogens around the world, has put the nation in an increasingly precarious situation, Graham said.

The Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism said American security was threatened by nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea, as well as in Pakistan, given its history of political instability and arsenal of several dozen nuclear warheads.

“What we’re saying in this report is: Look, this is urgent and important, and it has to constantly be at the top of the menu,” said former Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.), the commission’s vice chairman.

The report, which was ordered by Congress last year to serve as a road map for the next administration, made several recommendations about reorganizing agencies to help slow the spread of nuclear weapons.

It also encouraged Obama to devote a White House official to coordinate intelligence and foreign policy to combat the spread of nuclear and biological weapons.

“There should be someone in the White House who wakes up every day, looks in the mirror and says, ‘What do we need to do today to reduce the possibility of a weapon of mass destruction going off someplace in the world, specifically someplace in the United States?’ ” Graham said.

Graham said the person could play an important role in highlighting nonproliferation issues when the administration considered agreements such as the recent deal permitting U.S. sales of nuclear fuel and technology to India.

“There hasn’t been someone who can stand up to the secretary of State or a secretary of Commerce or other Cabinet officials when the final decision is made,” Graham said.

Obama has said that, as president, he would dramatically accelerate work to lock down nuclear material around the world.

A paper issued by his campaign in July said Obama would “appoint a deputy national security advisor to be in charge of coordinating all U.S. programs aimed at reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism and weapons proliferation.”

Biden on Wednesday suggested the administration would follow the report’s recommendations.

“We’re not doing all we can to prevent the world’s most lethal weapons from winding up in the hands of terrorists,” Biden said. “This report is more than a warning about what we are doing wrong. It’s a pragmatic blueprint for how to get it right.”

But some specialists, and some officials in the Bush administration, cautioned against appointing too many advisors.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urged caution Wednesday, saying that the government risked creating too many extraneous layers of bureaucracy by creating “a czar to do this and a czar to do that.”

“I put a big yellow light on, [a] go-slow, in terms of reorganizations,” Chertoff said.

Dizikes is a writer in our Washington bureau.

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Josh Meyer, a writer in our Washington bureau, contributed to this report.