The Hill News

With winter in full swing, we all appreciate that salt and sand ahead of time helps us better weather the blizzard. This is because prevention is cheaper than cleanup, planning ahead is more effective than picking up the pieces. It’s unfortunate that Congress didn’t adhere to these commonsense principles when they failed to fund anti-nuclear terrorism programs this past December in their rush to get out of town. Fortunately, this issue could be the first low-hanging, bipartisan fruit of the 112th Congress.   

The fight to prevent nuclear terrorism will be lost without a serious commitment to the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear material around the globe. Currently, more than 30 countries possess significant amounts of material that could be used to make a nuclear weapon, and much of it is stored in less-than-secure facilities. Enough material exists to create tens of thousands of new nuclear weapons, and the only way to ensure terrorist groups do! not obtain even an ounce of it is to reduce the number of places nuclear material is stored and secure those facilities that remain. 

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