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S. HRG. 111–932 

NOMINATION 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

JUNE 9, 2009 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: 

http://www.fdsys.gpo.gov 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts, Chairman

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut 

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania 

JIM WEBB, Virginia 

JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire 

EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware 

KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York 

RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana 

Republican Leader designee 

BOB CORKER, Tennessee 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia 

JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho 

JIM DEMINT, South Carolina 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi 

DAVID MCKEAN, Staff Director

KENNETH A. MYERS, JR., Republican Staff Director

(II)

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Feinstein, Hon. Dianne, U.S. Senator from California ......................................... 6 

Hoyer, Hon. Steny, U.S. Representative from Maryland ..................................... 7 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 

Isakson, Hon. Johnny, U.S. Senator From Georgia .............................................. 5 

Kerry, Hon. John F., U.S. Senator from Massachusetts ...................................... 1 

Lugar, Hon. Richard G., U.S. Senator from Indiana ............................................ 3 

Tauscher, Hon. Ellen O., U.S. Congresswoman from California and Nominee 

to be Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security .............. 9 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 13 

Prepared statement of Hon. Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator from California ....... 31 

(III)

(1) 

NOMINATION 

TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2009 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, 

Washington, DC. 

Hon. Ellen O. Tauscher to be Under Secretary of State for Arms 

Control and International Safety 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:03 a.m., in room 

SD–419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Kerry (chairman of the committee) presiding. 

Present: Senators Kerry, Cardin, Kaufman, Lugar, and Isakson. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN KERRY, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS 

The CHAIRMAN. Good morning. This hearing will come to order. 

Good morning. It’s a great pleasure to welcome everybody here 

today and particularly our nominee who is a good friend of mine 

and a lot of folks over here, and we have worked together. I’m 

proud to say I have alumni from my staff who are stalwartly helping to guide, though she doesn’t need a lot of guidance, our nominee along the way and we’re proud of that, too. 

And I see that you are accompanied by a strong cohort of the 

House here and it’s nice to see some of those members along with 

you and our colleague, Senator Feinstein. 

Let me just say a few comments in opening and Senator Lugar 

will, and we don’t normally do this, but I’m going to let Senator 

Isakson also say a few words, and then, Senator Feinstein, we’ll 

welcome your comments, and Senator Boxer asked me to—she is 

chairing a hearing and could not—she came over here to pay her 

respects and I think has a statement for the record. 

But you have long been a leading congressional voice on national 

security issues and all of us respect that and now you’ve been chosen by the president to serve as Under Secretary of State for Arms 

Control and International Security. 

I appreciate that Senator Feinstein is here and I thought that 

Congressman Hoyer may come over or not at some point. Great. 

Well, we’ll welcome him. Where is he hiding? Oh, here he is. Good 

timing. Mention your name and you appear, Steny. Welcome. 

Happy to have you here. 

Our nominee faces a significant number of challenges. We all 

know that. Terrorists are actively seeking to obtain sensitive mateVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:59 Mar 31, 2011 Jkt 062931 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\HEARING FILES\111TH CONGRESS\NOMINATION HEARINGS THAT WE WILL PRINT\
2 

rials and technology in an effort to launch catastrophic attacks 

with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. 

Governments that can’t feed their populations and can’t find jobs 

for their young people can still produce weapons grade fissile material, test weapon designs and field long-range missiles, threatening 

other countries with destruction on an unimaginable scale. 

Recognizing the urgency of the threat, Congress created the position of the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security in 1998 to ensure that the President and the 

State Department could always call upon a senior-level official 

squarely focused on assisting the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary in matters related to international security policy, arms control and nonproliferation. 

America must pursue the long-term goal of a world without nuclear weapons and I applaud the President for affirming our commitment to this effort in his April speech in Prague. 

This is not a dreamy vision built on naive optimism. We all understand the difficulties of getting there. We will need a very different world with a lot of different perceptions and a lot of different 

attitudes and checks and balances against behavior. 

But that said, it is clear that every step you take toward that 

world is a step that makes everybody safer and so it’s worth pursuing it and that is why it is really a straight calculation based on 

national security interests of the United States which has now 

been endorsed by steely eyed Cold Warriors like Henry Kissinger 

and George Schultz. 

They recognize the fundamental truth that we face a fork in the 

road and if we don’t dramatically transform our policies to aim in 

the direction of a world free of weapons, we will face a world in 

which many more diverse actors wield ever more dangerous weapons—and the chances of nuclear weapons being used will grow and 

also the chances of materials falling into rogue hands also increases significantly. 

The ultimate goal, needless to say, is not going to be reached 

quickly and possibly not in our lifetimes but in the meantime, we 

need to deal with the question of our security—and so long as other 

actors possess nuclear weapons, we will, too. 

So this moment presents ample opportunities for significant 

progress and perhaps even a major breakthrough in the coming 

months and years. While the goal may be some distance away, 

there is increasing agreement that prudent, practical, near-term 

steps in that direction are going to benefit all of us. 

We can and should work on a number of those steps immediately, and specifically steps that Congresswoman Tauscher, when 

confirmed, will be charged with overseeing. Dealing with North 

Korea and Iran’s unacceptable defiance of their nonproliferation 

commitments, negotiating replacement for the expiring START 

Agreement on which I’m pleased to note we are reportedly already 

making progress, securing vulnerable nuclear material around the 

world within 4 years, working toward a global treaty to ban the 

production of fissile material for nuclear weapons now that the administration has broken the nearly decades-long impasse at the 

U.N. Conference on Disarmament, and, finally, consulting with the 

3 

committee and the Senate as we reexamine the case for ratifying 

the CTBT. 

Of course, along with all these duties, she will also be charged 

with guiding our international security assistance, peaceful nuclear 

cooperation and military export control policies to ensure that they 

conform to the larger foreign policy objectives of the country. 

In these areas, too, there will be international agreements for 

which she will have to seek the support of either the Senate or the 

full Congress. With such a lengthy ‘‘To Do’’ list, we wonder if perhaps the nominee isn’t thinking right now that chairing the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces in the House Armed Services Committee isn’t such a bad job. 

Fortunately, we have a person before us who has demonstrated 

really admirable commitment to public service and bipartisanship 

and to America’s security and ideals and given her seven terms in 

Congress, I’m confident that, if confirmed, the Under Secretary will 

seek a close working relationship with this committee, keeping the 

Senate fully informed and involved. 

Given the urgency of her work, I intend for the committee to 

move quickly on this nomination and I hope the full Senate will approve her in a timely manner. 

So let me turn now to the Senator who, when it comes to matters 

of proliferation and international security, continues to set the 

standard in this body for putting principle in front of partisanship, 

Senator Lugar. 

STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD G. LUGAR, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM INDIANA 

Senator LUGAR. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and 

I join you in welcoming our nominee today, Representative Ellen 

Tauscher, to be the next Under Secretary of State for Arms Control 

and International Security. 

If confirmed, the nominee will be responsible for addressing the 

No. 1 national security threat facing our country, namely the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 

In addition, the nominee will construct arms control strategies, 

render judgments on conventional weapon sales to foreign governments, implement export controls, and develop policies on missile 

defense and security assistance. 

Her work will be a critical element of the United States Government’s response to the proliferation and nuclear security issues related to North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, and many other nations. 

Two weeks ago, I participated in the Opening Ceremonies of the 

Chemical Weapons Destruction Facility at Shchuch’ye Russia. 

Shchuch represents one of the most dangerous proliferation risks 

in history. 

When the project started, 1.9 million chemical munitions were 

stacked like wine bottles in a poorly guarded ramshackle wooden 

structure. During a visit to Shchuch in 1999, a Russian major took 

my photograph demonstrating how one of the munitions stored at 

Shchuch, an 85mm shell filled with nerve gas, could be carried in 

a simple briefcase. That one shell could have killed tens of thousands of people if detonated in an enclosed area, such as a stadium. 

4 

Despite the intense threat posed by these weapons, it took 15 

years of painstaking effort to get to this point. All involved had to 

overcome a thicket of political, legal, bureaucratic, logistical and 

engineering issues, that threatened at multiple points to derail or 

delay the project. 

The contribution of several other countries, besides the United 

States and Russia, had to be integrated into the plans. 

Moreover, the Shchuch project would not have been possible 

without Russian and American ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997. Thankfully, all of these elements occurred 

over the course of several administrations, so that we now have 

reached a point at Shchuch where the nerve gas is being neutralized shell by shell. 

I reflect on this experience to illustrate that nonproliferation and 

arms control achievements do not happen solely through Presidential declarations. They depend on negotiations with difficult 

countries and on glamorous implementation work often carried out 

in remote environments without much public appreciation or understanding. 

The policy directives of the President, Cabinet, and Secretaries 

and Under Secretaries are important but they do not guarantee 

success. Policymakers also must be diligent managers who ensure 

that negotiations, bureaucrats and technicians at every level of our 

government are working effectively to achieve results. 

I look forward to hearing from Representative Tauscher on the 

priority she plans to assign to the Nuclear Program and its partner 

efforts in the State and Energy Departments and how she will 

transition the United States policy to counter emerging threats. 

With respect to arms control negotiations, our most time-sensitive agenda is the preservation of the START Treaty and on December 5, the verification regime that undergirds the START Treaty will expire. 

The Moscow Treaty, which reduces deployed warheads to 1,700, 

would also be a casualty because it utilizes the START process. In 

other words, the foundation of the United States-Russian strategic 

relationship is at risk of collapsing before the end of the year. 

I am following closely the efforts of our negotiating teams in Geneva, led by Assistant Secretary Rose Gottemoeller. 

Beyond START, action on several steps will improve the prospects for a successful NBT Review Conference scheduled for next 

spring in New York. These steps include jump-starting talks on a 

fissile material cutoff treaty, correcting and funding shortfalls related to the Chemicals Weapons Convention, applying U.S. leadership to refurbishing the IAE’s decrepit verification capabilities and 

safeguard system, and making progress in establishing a nuclear 

fuel bank. 

Representative Tauscher has served for years in the House of 

Representatives where she played a role, a lead role in the formulation of legislation regarding the safety and security of the U.S. 

Nuclear Weapons Stockpile, of arms control and other issues directly related to this nomination. 

She has represented a congressional district that contains the 

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. So she comes to us today 

with an extensive nuclear background. 

5 

On May 20, I sent 61 prehearing questions to Representative 

Tauscher. Pardon me. I appreciate her diligence in answering these 

questions. Her answers were posted on my Web site last week so 

that all members could have an opportunity to review them. 

I welcome her to the Foreign Relations Committee and look forward to our discussion of critical issues facing our country. 

I thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Lugar. 

Senator Isakson. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHNNY ISAKSON, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM GEORGIA 

Senator ISAKSON. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for letting me 

break with tradition and say a few words. 

But there are two reasons that deal with Georgia and one reason 

that is personal for which I wanted to say something about Ellen. 

First of all, her fiance is from Peachtree City, GA, and he is here 

today. I just had the privilege of meeting him. And her dad is here 

from Peachtree City as well as other family members. Peachtree 

City is a great town in our state and we are proud to have Ellen 

as a visitor—I guess you won’t move as a resident. If she did, she 

would probably run against me and I would be out of here by now. 

[Laughter.] 

But we are glad to have all of you here. It is great to see Steny 

Hoyer here and Dianne, thank you for coming. 

But second, we share with the State of South Carolina the Savannah River site which is where right now, today, nuclear warheads are being reprocessed into fuel rods for powerplants. This is 

the ultimate taking of weapons and turning them into plow shares. 

I was just at the H Canyon Project 2 weeks ago, not inside of 

it, I was on the outside of it, to watch what is being done there, 

and it is great. 

But the personal reason is that I had the privilege of serving 

with Ellen for 6 years in the House and the pleasure of traveling 

with her to Munich, to the World Security Conference on one occasion, where I learned a tremendous amount from her. 

I think she is an absolutely tremendous appointee who I hope 

will speed through the Senate with all due haste. I particularly 

want to thank her in advance of her remarks for the inclusion in 

her remarks of the acknowledgement of Senator Sam Nunn, who, 

along with Senator Lugar, has done such tremendous work on nuclear nonproliferation. 

Sam is a predecessor of mine in the Senate from the State of 

Georgia and a great American. I appreciate that reference very 

much, and Ellen, we are very proud of you. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, thank you, Senator. Those were worthy 

reasons for an intervention. The most worthy of all, however, notwithstanding our love for Georgia is the fact that you’re going to 

support her, and we appreciate that. [Laughter.] 

Have you—I don’t know if either of you have schedules that 

you’ve worked out of who’s going first. If not, I will recognize Senator Feinstein. 

6 

STATEMENT OF HON. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Is that agreeable with you, Steny? 

Thank you very much. I have Defense Approps at 10:30. So this 

is helpful. Thank you very much. 

And as you said, Mr. Chairman, I’d like to ask that you place 

Senator Boxer’s comments—— 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. And I know she would reiterate what has 

been said today and I want to thank the Senators, both the ranking member and the Senator from Georgia, for their comments. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that Ellen 

Tauscher is one of my closest friends. I’ve known her now for some 

20 years. She’s been a trusted supporter and friend. We’ve gone 

through thick and thin together. So on a personal level, the only 

thing I can say are superlatives and that actually comes through 

on a political level, as well. 

I find her to be a very strong and a determined leader. She’s had 

an impressive career inside and outside of government and as you 

know, she’s been in the Congress for the last 12 years. 

She was born in Newark, NJ. She was the first in her family to 

attend college. She earned a degree in Early Childhood Education 

from Seton Hall University and before coming to Washington, she 

worked in the private sector for 20 years, 14 years on Wall Street, 

and she was one of the first women to hold a seat on the New York 

Stock Exchange, and also served as an officer of the American 

Stock Exchange. 

In 1989, she moved to California and founded a company dedicated to helping parents research the background of childcare 

workers. 

She was first elected to Congress in 1996 to represent the 10th 

Congressional District and she was reelected to a seventh term in 

2008. 

She often boasts that she has the privilege of representing some 

of the smartest people in the world and I think I would have to 

concur. She’s got two big nuclear labs in her backyard, as you both 

mentioned. One of them is Lawrence Livermore, the other is 

Sandia. 

On Friday, we were both at Lawrence Livermore to see the beginning of the operation of the National Ignition Facility, a facility 

that has not been without its controversy, a facility which the interior of which looks very much like Star Wars, and a facility which 

really could hold the future for both fission and fusion in this country. It’s an amazing facility and there is a huge scientific world on 

the cusp that might be able to be pierced because of this facility. 

Congresswoman Tauscher currently serves on the Committee on 

Armed Services of the House and on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She is chair of the 67-member New Democrat 

Coalition and serves as a regional whip. 

In the 110th, her colleagues elected her to serve as chairman of 

the Strategic Forces Committee—excuse me—Subcommittee, becoming only the third woman to chair an Armed Services subcommittee, and as chairman of that subcommittee, she’s become, as 

you gentlemen have said, a major leader in missile defense. 

7 

There’s no doubt that she is firmly committed to stopping the 

spread of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction 

and fighting the development of new nuclear weapons. 

She has also taken advantage of her chairmanship to play an active role in foreign policy and national security strategy. She’s traveled extensively throughout the world, participating on numerous 

congressional delegations, to Bosnia, Colombia, Germany, Korea, 

the former Yugoslavia, and Russia. She’s been to the Middle East 

six times since 2003, including four trips to Iraq. 

Last August, she led a congressional delegation to Iraq that met 

with General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, the United States 

troops, and members of the Iraqi Parliament. 

She fully grasps the fact that the United States needs the help 

and cooperation of our closest allies to take on the greatest national 

security challenges. 

As vice chair for the Future Security and Defense Capabilities 

Subcommittee of the Defense and Security Committee of NATO’s 

Parliamentary Assembly, she has been active. She has participated 

in the annual Wehrkunde Conference on Security Policy in Munich, 

the Army’s War College’s Strategic Crisis Exercise. She has addressed the Fletcher Conference on National Security, and the 

Army Two-Star Conference for Commanders. 

President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have 

laid out a new vision for American foreign policy and national security strategy, one based on robust diplomacy and multilateral cooperation, a well-trained and equipped military and economic and 

humanitarian assistance for the developing world. 

I believe Congresswoman Tauscher will be a dedicated and effective advocate for this vision and that she will serve her country 

with distinction and honor. Additionally, she and Jim will be married later this month and I think this must be just a tremendous 

treat for him. 

I accompanied them, was it on your first date, on their first date. 

So I don’t know quite what that says, except that we are indeed 

good friends and so I strongly introduce and recommend her to this 

committee with deepest respect and with feelings of great good 

luck. 

You’re welcome. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Feinstein. That is a strong 

introduction, indeed, and I know it comes not just as a good friend 

but also from your own experience and now as chair of the Intelligence Committee and we appreciate your input very much. 

Senator FEINSTEIN. Thank you very much. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Leader. Congressman Hoyer. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. STENY HOYER, 

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM MARYLAND 

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for this opportunity to appear before you. 

Senator Lugar, one of the most important leaders in this country 

and, indeed, internationally on the issue with which Ellen will be 

dealing shortly. 

My good friend, Congressman Isakson, Senator Kaufman, Senator Isakson. I upgraded you. 

8 

I come here with a great deal of conflict. I’ve been at war with 

myself whether to come here and vigorously oppose this nomination 

or to support it. I talked to Ellen about that. She is an extraordinarily value Member of the House of Representatives and we will 

sorely miss her leadership and her counsel and her energy and her 

focus and her devotion to her country, but I come, of course, to support this nomination because she will be of extraordinary value, not 

only to the Obama administration but to our country and to the 

international community in the task which she has been asked to 

take. 

I therefore am testifying on behalf of her outstanding character, 

integrity, and ability to take on a demanding and essential job as 

Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security. Most 

of all, of course, I’m here to vouch for a dear and close friend. 

I’ve known Ellen Tauscher since she ran for the House in 1986. 

During her service for over a decade in the House, she has always 

impressed me and all of the Members of the House on both sides 

of the aisle, as Senator Isakson so ably testified to, with her grasp 

of the issues, her commitment to making America better, her pragmatism, and her skill at building consensus. 

I’m not the only one whom Ellen impressed. In a Congress that 

is too often polarized along partisan lines, Congresswoman 

Tauscher has won friends and respect on both sides of the aisle. 

Her temperament makes her well suited to a position at the State 

Department where I’m sure that her diplomatic talents will be an 

ideal for the challenging work she has ahead of her. 

Congresswoman Tauscher will also bring a wealth of substantive 

experience, as has been testified to by all of us. She has served for 

years as a high-ranking member of the House Armed Services 

Committee and has carved out a place as one of Congress’s most 

trusted voices on counterproliferation efforts. 

She has traveled to the Middle East six times, as Senator Feinstein has pointed out, has frequently attended the International 

Munich Security Conference, and has helped lead the Vietnam Veterans of America’s Foundation’s Nuclear Threat Reduction Campaign. 

As chair of the House New Democratic Coalition, she has often 

spoken for Centrist Democrats on pressing issues of national security. Indeed, Ellen and I have had the opportunity to work very 

closely together in promoting the national security of this country. 

In my view, Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, Congresswoman Tauscher is eminently qualified to serve as the Under 

Secretary. The Obama administration has chosen well. 

The House will miss, as I have said, her unique set of skills and 

experience, and I will miss a dear friend from the House, but Secretary Clinton’s team and our Nation’s security will be better off 

for all the contributions that Congresswoman Tauscher will make 

in the years to come. 

I urge, Mr. Chairman, as you have said, you hope to be the case, 

her earliest possible confirmation and, as is usually the case, now 

that I have concluded, Senator Cardin decides to come into the 

room. [Laughter.] 

The CHAIRMAN. That’s why your delegation—he’s learned. That’s 

why your delegation gets along so well. 

9 

Mr. HOYER. That’s right. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Hoyer follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. STENY H. HOYER, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM MARYLAND

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee: 

Thank you for offering me the opportunity to speak on behalf of Congresswoman 

Ellen Tauscher. I am here to testify on behalf of her outstanding character, integrity, and ability to take on a demanding and essential job as Undersecretary for 

Arms Control and International Security. Most of all, I am here to vouch for a good 

friend. 

I have known Congresswoman Tauscher since she ran for the House in 1996. During her service for over a decade in the House, she has always impressed me with 

her grasp of the issues, her commitment to making America better, her pragmatism, 

and her skill at building consensus. I am not the only one whom Ellen impressed— 

in a Congress that is too often polarized along partisan lines, Congresswoman 

Tauscher has won friends and respect on both sides of the aisle. Her temperament 

makes her well suited to a position at the State Department, where I am sure that 

her diplomatic talents will be an ideal fit for the challenging work she has ahead 

of her. 

Congresswoman Tauscher will also bring a wealth of substantive experience to 

the State Department. She has served for years as a high-ranking member of the 

House Armed Services Committee and has carved out a place as one of Congress’s 

most trusted voices on counterproliferation efforts. She has traveled to the Middle 

East six times, has frequently attended the international Munich Security Conference and has helped lead the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation’s Nuclear 

Threat Reduction Campaign. As Chair of the House New Democrat Coalition, she 

has often spoken for centrist Democrats on pressing issues of national security. In 

my view, Congresswoman Tauscher is eminently qualified to serve as Undersecretary. 

The House will miss her unique set of skills and experience—and I will miss a 

dear friend. But Secretary Clinton’s team, and our Nation’s security, will be better 

off for all of the contributions that Congresswoman Tauscher will make in the years 

to come. I urge her speedy confirmation. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, Congresswoman, I tell you you’ve had two 

of the best introductions that we’ve heard up here in awhile and 

I certainly appreciate both our colleagues, Senator Feinstein and 

Steny Hoyer, coming over. 

Thank you very, very much. We know you’re busy and need to 

run. 

As I mentioned to you when we chatted previously, I had a prior 

commitment here, but I wanted to get this hearing moving and 

done, so we scheduled it and I wanted to be here for the beginning, 

and I will certainly be here through your statement and so forth. 

Senator Kaufman has agreed and he will chair in my absence 

and I thank you for your indulgence. 

If we could ask you, I know you have some family here and folks 

you might want to introduce as you begin, and we look forward to 

your testimony. 

STATEMENT OF HON. ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN FROM CALIFORNIA, AND NOMINEE TO BE UNDER 

SECRETARY FOR ARMS CONTROL AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you very much, Senator. I would be very 

honored to introduce my father John O’Kane, my fiance Jim 

Cieslak is here, my nephew Connor Bender, my very close family 

friend Marty Robinson, Ginger Paper who is my daughter’s godmother, my chief of staff is here, my pals are here, Congresswoman 

Sue Myrick from North Carolina, and Congresswoman Carolyn 

10 

McCarthy from New York, and earlier, one of your colleagues, the 

ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileanna 

Ros-Lehtinen, came by and she’s off to chair a subcommittee. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, that’s really a nice thing, and Congresswomen, we really appreciate your coming over. That’s a big deal. 

We thank you. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you. Thank you, Senator. 

I just want to very briefly thank the colleagues that came. I want 

to thank Mr. Hoyer, the majority leader, for his comments and the 

kind words and his steadfast friendship and it’s been an honor 

serving with him, and I know the House is in good hands with 

Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer. 

And for Senator Feinstein, she is right, she is one of my closest 

friends. I’ve been enormously blessed to not only have an icon of 

political and public service to be such a close friend but a woman 

who is a great mother, grandmother, and wife to be a close friend 

in public policy and that is a true inspiration to me. 

Mr. Chairman, I want to congratulate you on your new role. I am 

enormously impressed with the energy and creativity you’ve 

brought to the committee, especially the pace and the depth of the 

committee’s hearings and investigations. 

You have had an extraordinary journey since you first testified 

before this committee in 1971. Our Nation is better off because of 

your determination and courage that you have shown throughout 

your life. 

Senator Lugar, I admire your passion for keeping the world safe 

from nuclear weapons. I have long considered myself a fellow traveler on these issues and it would be an honor to work with you, 

should I be confirmed. 

I also want to thank my fellow Californian, Senator Barbara 

Boxer, who is chairing the EPW hearing right now, for her longtime support and friendship, and I want to acknowledge, in addition to the other distinguished members of the committee, my 

former House colleagues. I want to thank especially Senator Johnny Isakson and Senator Ben Cardin for being here and Senator 

Kaufman. It’s good to see you. 

Should I be confirmed, I will miss serving in the House and it’s 

been a wonderful and rewarding experience. I want to especially 

thank my constituents in California’s 10th Congressional District. 

It has been an honor to serve them for the past 13 years and I 

wouldn’t be here if it were not for them. 

I wanted to again acknowledge my family members who are here 

for their love and support and my family that cannot be here today 

for their love and enduring support. 

Senator Kerry, Senator Lugar, and the members of the Committee, it’s an honor and a privilege to appear before you as President Obama’s nominee for the position of Under Secretary of State 

for Arms Control and International Security. I am deeply grateful 

for the trust that both President Obama and Secretary Clinton 

have placed in me and I look forward to working with Vice President Biden who has brought years of passion and understanding to 

these issues. 

Even though I might be leaving the House, I won’t be going far. 

I want to assure you that should I be confirmed, I will be in freVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:59 Mar 31, 2011 Jkt 062931 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\HEARING FILES\111TH CONGRESS\NOMINATION HEARINGS THAT WE WILL PRINT\
11 

quent and close contact with this committee and with the relevant 

committees in the House and Senate. 

Like all Americans who are my age and grew up during the cold 

war, I participated in my share of duck and cover drills as a little 

girl growing up in East Newark, NJ. I can remember walking home 

from school for lunch as planes flew overhead to land at nearby 

Newark Airport, reciting the Rosary and praying that there would 

not be nuclear war. 

I developed an interest and expertise in nonproliferation issues 

because I have had the honor and privilege to represent the only 

congressional district in the United States with two national nuclear laboratories, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia, CA. 

After I was first elected to Congress in 1996, I joined the House 

Armed Services Committee and the Strategic Forces Subcommittee 

which I now chair. Since then, stopping nuclear proliferation by 

protecting our stockpile, maintaining the credibility of our deterrent and preventing terrorists from getting hold of a weapon of 

mass destruction has become my life’s work. 

In his speech in Prague earlier this spring, President Obama 

called for a world without nuclear weapons, a goal shared by Presidents Kennedy and Reagan. It is a goal that has bipartisan support 

from Senator John McCain, military leaders like Colin Powell, and 

three former Secretaries of State and Defense from both parties, 

and former Senator Sam Nunn. I, too, want to work with you toward that goal. 

As President Obama has said, this is not a world where we will 

unilaterally disarm but one in which we will reduce our arsenals 

based on mutual agreements, verification, and compliance. We will 

maintain a safe, secure, and reliable deterrent against any adversary and an effective defense for our allies while we work toward 

reducing the world’s nuclear arsenal. 

President Obama vowed to put his energy and muscle behind 

this dream, even though he, like his predecessors, acknowledged 

that it will take patience and persistence and that it might not 

happen in our lifetime. 

By reducing our nuclear arsenal, I believe that we will be in a 

better position to secure the international cooperation necessary to 

strengthen efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear as well as chemical and biological weapons. 

These are weighty and complex topics that I would confront if 

confirmed as Under Secretary of State and I would like to spend 

a few more minutes reviewing a few issues. 

Progress toward a nuclear-free world begins with a new 

verifiable agreement to further reduce the United States and Russia’s strategic nuclear arsenals. The United States and Russia have 

made great progress together under the Intermediate Range and 

Shorter Range Nuclear Forces, called INF Treaty, the Strategic 

Arms Reduction Treaty, called START, and the Moscow Treaties, 

to greatly reduce our nuclear arsenals. 

But START, the verification program at the foundation of our 

strategic disarmament agenda, expires in December. We have less 

than 6 months to establish a successor to START. 

12 

The United States and Russian delegations are already hard at 

work to develop a treaty that builds on the progress we have made 

and provide a foundation for further reductions. 

The follow-on agreement will serve our country well by ensuring 

predictability and transparency in our strategic nuclear relationship with Russia. I look forward to seeking your input on this matter. 

The nuclear threat that President Obama outlined in his speech 

in Prague is both more complex and unpredictable than it was a 

generation ago. Dangerous terrorists seeking the world’s most dangerous weapons have turned the nuclear equation upside down. 

The best way to stop terrorists from getting their hands on nuclear weapons is to safeguard the existing stockpile and secure 

bombmaking fissile material at their source. 

Thanks to Senator Lugar and former Senator Sam Nunn, our Cooperative Threat Reduction Assistance Programs have made great 

strides in upgrading the security at Russian nuclear facilities, but 

the problem is not confined to Russia. We need to move potentially 

vulnerable highly enriched uranium from research reactor sites 

around the world. We need to convert those reactors to operate 

with low enriched uranium which cannot be used in nuclear weapons. 

So I want to work with you to help achieve President Obama’s 

goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear material within 4 years. 

We must also continue to look for ways to enhance our security 

by helping others destroy weapons of mass destruction, such as the 

successful effort to help destroy chemical weapons in Russia which 

you, Senator Lugar, most recently witnessed in Russia on May 29. 

In addition, Secretary Clinton underscored that the nonproliferation treaty is the cornerstone of the nonproliferation regime and 

the United States must exercise the leadership needed to shore up 

the regime. 

To this end, the Obama administration has developed a nuclear 

nonproliferation strategy based on multiple fronts. Effective 

verification and compliance are fundamental to its approach. 

First, if confirmed, I will focus on helping the administration negotiate a global verifiable fissile material cutoff treaty. With this, 

this is a heavy lift, and it is my goal to work closely with this committee and the full Senate to help manage a path forward. 

Second, the Obama administration is strongly committed to 

working with members of this committee and with Members of the 

Senate to obtain your advice and consent to construct a way to ease 

any concern, especially as they relate to compliance and 

verification with respect to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. 

In my view, working toward ratification of the Comprehensive 

Test Ban Treaty is one way we can persuade other states to permanently end nuclear testing and curb the proliferation of nuclear 

weapons. 

If I am confirmed, I will work closely with you, Mr. Chairman, 

Senator Lugar, and the members of this committee to make sure 

you have the most up-to-date military and diplomatic and technical 

analysis on issues relating to the CTBT. 

In addition, we must continue to focus special attention on the 

urgent challenges that North Korea and Iran pose to the interVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:59 Mar 31, 2011 Jkt 062931 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\HEARING FILES\111TH CONGRESS\NOMINATION HEARINGS THAT WE WILL PRINT\
13 

national nonproliferation regime. If confirmed, I look forward to 

working closely with my colleagues in the administration and in 

the Senate and the House to implement the President’s policy of 

helping Iran make the right choice and end its pursuit of a nuclear 

weapons capability. 

Finally, if confirmed, I plan to focus on the revitalization of the 

International Atomic Energy Agency which implements NPT-mandated safeguards. Instead of allowing NPT Member States to reap 

the benefits of the treaty and then withdraw to build a military arsenal, the international community should achieve a consensus on 

the measures that must be taken to prevent such a scenario. 

I have just highlighted the issues that are most timely and topical and of immediate interest to the committee and to the American people. Should I be confirmed, I will have the responsibility 

for a range of additional policy areas and treaties, and I look forward to consulting closely with this committee on those issues, as 

well. 

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Lugar, and the members of the 

committee, thank you for your leadership on these issues and 

thank you for your time and consideration of my nomination. 

I would be pleased to answer any questions you might have. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Tauscher follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, NOMINEE FOR

UNDER SECRETARY FOR ARMS CONTROL AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Majority Leader Hoyer, thank you for your kind words and your steadfast friendship. It has been an honor serving with you and I know the House is in good hands 

with your leadership. 

Senator Feinstein, thank you for your generous introduction. Most importantly, 

thank you for your friendship and partnership over these many years. For so many 

people, especially women, you are an icon. To me, you are a model public servant 

and an inspiration. 

Mr. Chairman, congratulations on your new role. I am impressed with the energy 

and creativity you have brought to the committee, especially the pace and depth of 

the committee’s hearings and investigations. You have been on an extraordinary 

journey since you testified before this committee in 1971. Our Nation is better off 

because of your determination and courage. 

Senator Lugar, I admire your passion for keeping the world safe from nuclear 

weapons. I have long considered myself a fellow traveler on these issues and it 

would be an honor to work with you should I be confirmed. 

I also want to thank my fellow Californian, Senator Barbara Boxer, for her longtime support and friendship and, I want to acknowledge my former House colleagues, now representing their great States in the Senate, Ben Cardin, Jim 

DeMint, Kirsten Gillibrand, Johnny Isakson, Robert Menendez, and Roger Wicker. 

I will miss serving in the House. It has been a wonderful and rewarding experience. I want to especially thank my constituents in California’s 10th Congressional 

District. It has been an honor to serve them for the past 13 years and I wouldn’t 

be here if it were not for them. 

Finally, I want to acknowledge my father, John O’Kane, my nephew, Conor, and 

my fiance, Jim Cieslak, who are here today. 

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Lugar, and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, it is an honor and privilege to appear before you as President 

Obama’s nominee for the position of Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and 

International Security. I am deeply grateful for the trust that both President Obama 

and Secretary Clinton have placed in me. 

I also look forward to working with Vice President Biden, who has brought years 

of passion and understanding to these issues. 

Even though I might be leaving Congress, I won’t be going far. I assure you that 

I will be in frequent and close contact with this committee, the House Foreign Relations Committee, and the House and Senate appropriations committees. 

Like all Americans who are my age and grew up during the cold war, I participated in my share of ‘‘duck and cover drills’’ as a little girl in East Newark, NJ. 

14 

I can remember walking home from school for lunch, as planes flew overhead, reciting the Rosary, and praying that there would not be nuclear war. 

I developed an interest and expertise in nonproliferation issues because I have 

had the opportunity to represent the only congressional district in the country with 

two nuclear laboratories, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia California. After I was 

first elected to Congress in 1996, I decided to join the House Armed Services Committee and the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, which I now chair. 

So thanks to my constituents, and by dint of geography, working to reduce the 

threat of nuclear and stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has 

become my life’s work. 

I realize that if confirmed as Under Secretary of State I will have multiple areas 

of responsibility. Let me review several of them. 

First, I will have an opportunity to advance the President’s agenda on missile defense. In my current capacity as chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, I have 

traveled throughout the world to address the threat of missile proliferation and promote missile defense cooperation and I am committed to working with our friends 

and allies to defend against the threat from ballistic missiles. 

I share the President’s commitment to better protect our forces and those of our 

allies by fielding our most capable theater missile defense systems, including the 

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System and Standard Missile 3 programs. I 

look forward to working with you and the other relevant committees to promote our 

missile defense efforts. 

I also look forward to working with you to ensure that the State Department has 

a smart approach to arms transfers and security assistance so that we contribute 

to our Nation’s security and to that of our allies. In this context, I will continue to 

seek your advice for ways to make our defense trade export licensing system more 

efficient and timely, while keeping controls on the sensitive goods and technologies 

that will maintain U.S. superiority in military conflicts. 

By working together, I am hopeful that we provide our allies and partners with 

military training and the equipment that they need to protect their own national 

security needs and to operate with U.S. forces in coalition operations. I will work 

to promote our diplomatic counterpiracy agenda, focusing on the Secretary’s themes 

of multilateral coordination, removing barriers to prosecutions of suspected pirates, 

and working with the shipping industry on self-protection measures. 

As you know, the principal focus of this job is to stop the proliferation of nuclear 

weapons and material. 

In his speech in Prague earlier this spring, President Obama called for a world 

without nuclear weapons. I am committed to working toward that goal; a goal that 

is shared by Senator John McCain, military leaders like Colin Powell and three 

former Secretaries of State and Defense from both parties and Senator Sam Nunn 

(D-Ga.). 

As the President said, we do not live in a world where we unilaterally disarm, 

but one in which we reduce our nuclear arsenals based on mutual agreements, 

verification, and compliance. 

By reducing our nuclear arsenal, the United States, in my view, will be in a better 

position to secure the international cooperation necessary to strengthen efforts to 

prevent the spread of nuclear as well as chemical and biological weapons. 

I believe that we will also be more prepared to respond to cases of noncompliance 

with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by states such as Iran and North Korea. 

Presidents Kennedy and Reagan also shared this dream. Forty-five years ago, 

President Kennedy encouraged us not to succumb to cynicism. In a speech given at 

American University, he said that ‘‘Our problems are man-made therefore they can 

be solved by man.’’ And women. 

He also said then that a belief that we cannot achieve a nuclear free world is a 

‘‘dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that 

mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control.’’ 

Speaking before the Japanese Diet in 1983, President Ronald Reagan said, ‘‘The 

only value in possessing nuclear weapons is to make sure they can’t be used ever. 

I know I speak for people everywhere when I say our dream is to see the day when 

nuclear weapons will be banished from the face of the Earth.’’ 

President Obama—like his predecessors—acknowledged that achieving this goal 

will take ‘‘patience and persistence,’’ and that it might not happen in our lifetime. 

Nevertheless, I want to work with you, together, to take the necessary steps to 

reduce the world’s nuclear arsenals while making sure that we maintain a safe, 

secure and reliable deterrent against any adversary and an effective defense for our 

allies. 

As you know, the threat that President Obama outlined in his speech in Prague 

is both more complex and unpredictable than it was a generation ago. Dangerous 

15 

terrorists seeking the world’s most dangerous weapons have turned the nuclear 

equation upside down. 

President Obama highlighted this when he said that, ‘‘the threat of global nuclear 

war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up. More nations have 

acquired these weapons. Testing has continued. Black market trade in nuclear 

secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread. 

Terrorists are determined to buy, build, or steal one. Our efforts to contain these 

dangers are centered on a global nonproliferation regime, but as more people and 

nations break the rules, we could reach the point where the center cannot hold.’’ 

The devastation from even a small nuclear bomb exploding in our Nation’s Capital 

is unthinkable. My good friend, Senator Joseph Lieberman, has studied this issue. 

According to testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental 

Affairs Committee last year, a 10-kiloton device detonated near the White House 

would kill more than 100,000 people. Another 100,000 would need to be decontaminated from the radiation. It’s unlikely that our Government, or any government, is 

equipped to handle a crisis like that. 

Beyond the terrifying loss of life, such an attack would threaten our economy, our 

social fabric, and our way of life. 

These issues underscore the serious responsibility that I will undertake if confirmed as Under Secretary of State. Please allow me to review a few of these issues 

in greater detail. 

Progress toward a nuclear free world begins with a new verifiable agreement to 

further reduce the United States and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals. The 

United States and Russia competed with one another for years by expanding the 

size and increasing the scope of our nuclear arsenals. But we have made great 

progress working together under the INF, START, and Moscow treaties to greatly 

reduce our nuclear arsenals. 

START, the treaty at the foundation of our strategic disarmament agenda, expires 

in December. We have 6 months to establish a successor. The United States and 

Russian delegations are already hard at work to develop a treaty that builds on the 

progress we have already made and provide a foundation for further reductions. 

The follow-on agreement will serve our country well by ensuring predictability 

and transparency in our strategic nuclear relationship with Russia. I look forward 

to seeking your input on this matter. 

We must continue to focus special attention on the urgent challenges that North 

Korea and Iran pose to the international nonproliferation regime. If confirmed, I 

look forward to working closely with my colleagues in the administration and the 

Congress to implement the President’s policy of helping Iran make the right choice, 

to end its pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability and to rebuild the trust of the 

international community by fulfilling all of its United Nation Security Council, nonproliferation, and other obligations. 

North Korea’s nuclear test represents a grave threat to regional and international 

security. I want to work together to ensure that North Korea returns to the negotiating table and abandons its nuclear program in a complete and verifiable manner. 

At the same time, I am hopeful that we can work together to come up with a 

strategy to reduce the incentive for countries to pursue similar capabilities by supporting the expansion of nuclear energy in conformity with the highest standards 

of safety, security, and nonproliferation. I want to assure you that verification and 

compliance would be at the heart of any agreement. 

In her Senate confirmation testimony, Secretary Clinton underscored that the 

Nonproliferation Treaty is the cornerstone of the nonproliferation regime, and the 

United States must exercise the leadership needed to shore up the regime. To this 

end, the Obama administration has developed a nuclear nonproliferation strategy 

based on multiple fronts. Effective verification and compliance are fundamental to 

its approach. 

The Obama administration is strongly committed to working with members of this 

committee and with all Members of the Senate to obtain your advice and consent 

to construct a way to ease any concerns, especially as they relate to compliance and 

verification with respect to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. 

In my view, working toward ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty 

is one way that we can persuade other states to permanently end nuclear testing 

and curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons. If I am confirmed, I will work closely 

with you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Lugar, and the members of this committee, to 

make sure you have the most up-to-date technical, military, and diplomatic analyses 

on issues relating to the CTBT. 

To this end, I share the administration’s commitment to obtaining the Senate’s 

advice and consent to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to launch a 

diplomatic effort to bring states that have not signed the treaty on board so that 

16 

it can be brought into force. I will, if confirmed, work closely with you and your 

staffs, to ease concerns, especially as they relate to compliance and verification. 

As you know, significant progress has been made over the last decade in our ability to verify a comprehensive nuclear test ban. Confidence has also grown in our 

ability to maintain our nuclear deterrent without testing. 

Last month, I attended the dedication of the National Ignition Facility, the largest 

laser in the world, located at the Lawrence Livermore Lab in my district in California, which will allow the United States to replicate conditions occurring in a 

nuclear explosion without the need for an actual test. The network of sensors that 

make up the CTBTO’s International Monitoring System proved its value in detecting the latest North Korean test, as well as its 2006 test. 

If I am confirmed, I will focus hard on that effort to make sure you have the most 

up-to-date technical, military, and diplomatic analyses on issues relating to the 

CTBT. 

As part of my responsibilities if I am confirmed, I would help the administration 

negotiate a global, verifiable Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. In my view, such a 

treaty is a critical step toward containing the growth of military nuclear programs 

around the world. 

The best way to stop terrorists from getting their hands on nuclear weapons is 

to secure bombmaking fissile materials at their source. Thanks to Senator Lugar 

and former Senator Sam Nunn’s visionary leadership, our cooperative threat reduction assistance programs have made great strides in upgrading security at Russian 

nuclear facilities. 

But the problem is not confined to Russia. We need to remove potentially vulnerable highly enriched uranium from research reactor sites around the world and to 

convert those reactors to operate with low-enriched uranium, which cannot be used 

in nuclear weapons. These are urgent tasks and I want to work together to achieve 

President Obama’s goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear material within 4 years. 

We must also continue to look for ways to enhance our security by helping others 

destroy weapons of mass destruction, such as the successful effort to help destroy 

chemical weapons in Russia, which you, Senator Lugar, most recently witnessed in 

Russia on May 29. 

I look forward to working with you to develop measures to secure nuclear materials so that they do not fall into the hands of terrorists. 

In addition, I will work to revitalize the International Atomic Energy Agency, 

which implements NPT-mandated safeguards. As more countries look to nuclear 

power to answer their energy needs, we must ensure that the international body 

is equipped to inspect and oversee their programs and help them ensure the physical security of their nuclear installations and materials. We also must work with 

the international community to establish clear and enforceable penalties for those 

who abuse the NPT’s right of withdrawal. 

Nuclear materials are of special concern, and I look forward to working with 

President Obama to organize a global summit on securing nuclear materials next 

year. It will be vital to build upon Senator Lugar’s efforts to strengthen our threat 

reduction programs around the world to reduce the threat from unsecured weapons, 

components and other materials that terrorist organizations or other nongovernment actors could use to further their ends. 

The A.Q. Khan nuclear black market network proves how important it is to work 

harder to strengthen U.S. and multilateral export controls and to implement United 

Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 more effectively. I want to work with you 

to expand and institutionalize these nonproliferation tools, including our efforts to 

interdict shipments of weapons of mass destruction through the Proliferation Security Initiative. 

But beyond the policies, and perhaps even more importantly, I want to work with 

you to communicate the importance of arms control and nonproliferation. 

We need a constant, deliberate effort to contain and reduce the number of nuclear 

weapons in the world. We need to tell a better story and develop a better narrative 

to convey why this issue, which for many harkens back to a bygone era, is still important. We need clearer symbols and optics so that your constituents and citizens 

around the world understand why we’re doing what we’re doing. 

The ever-present threats around the globe mean the clock is ticking. My hope is 

that we can work together to enact verifiable treaties and strengthen existing 

regimes, including the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Nuclear Suppliers 

Group, the Australia Group, and the Wassenaar Arrangement. We can implement 

the President’s call to make the PSI and Global Initiative enduring international 

institutions. 

17 

I believe that these actions will send a message that the international community 

will no longer tolerate proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems. 

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Lugar, and members of the committee, thank 

you for your leadership on these issues and thank you for your time and consideration of my nomination. If I am confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to working 

with you on a wide range of national security initiatives that President Obama has 

proposed. I would be pleased to answer any questions you might have. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, thank you very much, Congresswoman. We 

appreciate that comprehensive statement and a number of the 

issues that you raised in it. 

I’m just going to ask a couple quick questions before I have to 

run. 

First of all, what role do you plan to play or have they asked you 

to play with respect to the Nuclear Posture Review? 

Ms. TAUSCHER. That’s an excellent question, Senator Kerry. 

As you know, the NPR, Nuclear Posture Review, is underway 

and it is normally undertaken predominantly by the Pentagon and 

Department of Defense and the Interagency and I’m happy to say 

that under the Obama administration, with Secretary Clinton’s 

leadership, the State Department and specifically the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security plays 

a very big role. 

There are already staffers working in both the VCI, the 

Verification Compliance and Inspection, and the ISN Agencies, Bureaus of this Under Secretariat, working collaboratively right now. 

So I believe that there’s going to be significant State input, I think 

we’re the better for it, and as a corollary, I will tell you that on 

the QDR, the State Department has a lot more input than it has 

in the past, and I think that that talks about the robust kind of 

policy. 

The CHAIRMAN. The review is going to be in December? 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes, it will be. 

The CHAIRMAN. So we obviously hope very much on this committee—I mean, I think that any kind of review that doesn’t take 

into account some of the larger interconnections and policy questions is not a very intelligent review. That’s not to say that, you 

know, others won’t have that, but I think the multiplicity of sensitivities that get brought to the table from different departments 

is important. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. I agree. 

The CHAIRMAN. So we hope you will press that, No. 1, and No. 

2, we hope you will keep this committee fully and currently informed of sort of where that is going and the progress in that discussion. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. I will, sir. 

The CHAIRMAN. And I think that’s very important and also very 

important in terms of our thinking about the CTBT and how we 

proceed here and so on and so forth. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes, sir. 

The CHAIRMAN. A second quick question is on the Defense Trade 

Cooperation Treaty with the United Kingdom and Australia. Those 

are both in front of the committee. 

I want to get those both done as rapidly as possible, but last fall, 

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actly how it’s going to be implemented. We’re trying to work that 

through now and we intend to work it through, but I just want to 

make sure—it may not be the department’s preferred approach, but 

I’d like to make certain you’ll work with the committee. 

If we decide that the best way to ensure that the treaty, once, 

you know, brought into effect, is going to be implemented properly, 

we may have to do a couple of things here and we’d like your cooperation in that effort. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Senator, you have my pledge to work cooperatively and it will be, should I be confirmed, one of the first things 

that I think I would be coming to see you about. 

The CHAIRMAN. OK. Also, you’ve noted the potential advantage 

of nuclear power and what it might offer and I don’t disagree. I’ve 

been busy. I just came back from China and a number of other 

countries in the Middle East, elsewhere, and nuclear powerplants 

are going up. It’s going to be a key part of our energy future, like 

it or not, or whatever the options for the moment, and obviously 

there are always nonproliferation concerns. 

With that in mind, Senator Lugar and I both supported the 

United States-India Agreement for cooperation of peaceful uses of 

nuclear energy and you did not, I know, but now we have another 

agreement which is before the committee for its review and that’s 

between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. 

I’d just like to get your quick views on that and do you think that 

could provide a model for nonproliferation protections as we go forward? 

Ms. TAUSCHER. I strongly support the UAE 123 Agreement, Senator, and I urge its support here in the Senate. I think that it is, 

as you have said, a model agreement. It is not only one that is buttoned up, as we should say, in regards to nonproliferation but it is 

also one that I think strengthens the security of the region and I 

think that is an important secondary issue. 

It is important for us to have these agreements as they mature 

and move forward that we can offer to other countries and I think 

that the UAE 123 Agreement is an example of that. 

The CHAIRMAN. Great. And finally, I would really ask for your 

help and cooperation. The President has stated his intention to aggressively and immediately pursue the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. I supported that. I do support it. I 

want to see us proceed forward. 

We have had some disagreement on the committee and obviously 

in the Senate, it wasn’t ratified, and it’s been 10 years since that 

issue has been in front of the committee, in front of the country. 

So the cooperation I ask is we’re going to begin working very closely with the labs. We have actually already begun. 

We need to know before the Congress, I know Senator Lugar 

needs to know, others on the committee want to be convinced that 

things have changed in those 10 years that warrant an adoption 

of this agreement at this point in time, and so that will be a very 

important part, I think, of your portfolio with respect to the Congress and I’d ask your cooperation in helping us to fully vet that 

properly and prepare the committee and the Congress so we have 

real answers and we do not want the politics of this to take over. 

19 

We want this to be based on legitimate security interests and those 

should be based on facts. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Well, Senator, you have my pledge to work closely with the committee. As you have said, this is one of the most 

important issues that the President has put before the Under Secretary of Arms Control and International Security and should I be 

confirmed, it will be very important for me to work with this committee. 

As you have said, in the 10 years since the 1999 consideration 

of the CTBT by the Senate, there have been enormous changes in 

the verification pieces of the science, in the safeguards. We have 

10 full years of certification by the lab directors of the safety and 

reliability and security of the stockpile, and we have had tremendous advances by the CTBO, the organization that monitors and 

manages the CTBT Treaty, on being able to deal with seismology 

and understanding exactly what events are around the world so 

that we could have a sense for what is happening. 

So I think that there’s a lot of new information out there but it 

will be my responsibility and my honor to work very closely with 

you to make sure that the committee has everything it needs in the 

military analysis, the scientific and technical analysis, and the diplomatic analysis as to why this would be the right time to consider 

the CTBT. 

The CHAIRMAN. Terrific. Well, we look forward to doing that, and 

let me just say on a personal level again how excited I am about 

your nomination. I enjoyed so much working with you the numbers 

of times we’ve had a chance to do that. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you, Senator, very much. 

The CHAIRMAN. I have great respect for you personally. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you very much. I appreciate it very much. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Lugar. 

Senator LUGAR. Thank you. 

Let me pick up the conversation with regard to the Nuclear Posture Review and in response to questions that we posed for the 

record and which you’ve already answered, you noted there is an 

ongoing Nuclear Posture Review and the administration will complete it this year. The NPR will make key decisions regarding future size and composition of our strategic nuclear forces. 

I raise the question today because some would prefer to wait for 

the outcome of this review before completing arms control negotiations with Russia. We’ve already outlined extensively the December 

5 deadline which is critical. Rose Gottemoeller and her team are 

at work and are making progress, as far as we can tell. 

President Obama and President Medvedev apparently hope to 

make some statements about the situation when they meet in July, 

and we still then have before us ratification by the Senate of the 

treaty which gets into scheduling problems and other difficulties as 

we try to address the rest of the agenda. 

But in the face of this, I do believe that there are many difficulties in negotiating the successor to the START Treaty with Russia 

while the Nuclear Posture Review is underway. How should we answer critics who would say that your December 5 thing is one factor, but we’ve not really heard the verdict on the Posture Review? 

20 

Ms. TAUSCHER. I think that’s an excellent question, Senator, and 

I think that we’re going to do a number of things to allay the concerns that have been expressed and I think that, while they are serious concerns, I think that we can allay those concerns. 

First and foremost, we have the ability to multitask. So while we 

are going through the Nuclear Posture Review, at the same time 

there is guidance from the Pentagon as to the military requirements for the stockpile and a number of other issues that are informing the negotiations and our negotiators. 

On July 15, Rose Gottemoeller, our Assistant Secretary, primary 

negotiator for the START Treaty, will come up to the Senate and 

will meet with, for example, the National Security Working Group. 

Should I be confirmed by then, I would expect that a number of 

my visits up here will be to make sure that we are outlining exactly where we are on the negotiations, what the tenor and scope 

of the negotiations are, and how it dovetails with what is going on 

with the NPR, and I’m confident that we can assure everyone that 

while, it looks as if there’s a review going on and we’re going ahead 

and making decisions, that what is going on in the review is informing what is going on in the negotiations and that I think that 

it is necessary because of the deadline of December 5 for the expiration of START that we do that that way. 

It is not perhaps the preferred way of doing it but it is, I think, 

one that you can be assured is fully informed as to what the NPR 

and the military requirements in the Pentagon and the Interagency 

are talking about, is part of what the negotiating guidance is. 

Senator LUGAR. Well, that is very reassuring and we’ll work together to try to reassure colleagues. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. I appreciate that, Senator. I’m going to need your 

help on that. 

Senator LUGAR. On May 10, Assistant Secretary of State for 

Verification and Compliance and Implementation Rose 

Gottemoeller stated, ‘‘The United States will seek a new treaty that 

verifiably ends production of fissile materials intended for use in 

nuclear weapons’’ better known as the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. 

Now, on May 29, at a Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, a 

new work plan was agreed to that will permit negotiations to begin 

on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. You stated in response to questions we posed to you and I’m quoting the specific answer you provided, ‘‘We are reviewing the verification issues related to a potential treaty,’’ and you’ve restated that again today. 

But now, state for the record and this hearing, what are the fundamental challenges in your view that we will face in concluding 

such a treaty? And in your advance answer, you state that ‘‘our 

challenge now is to get negotiations on FMCT started. This step 

was necessary before briefings could be offered to the committee.’’ 

Given the news from Geneva now, have negotiations now in fact 

started and if so, when can we expect you or other senior officials 

to discuss them with this committee? 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Well, Senator, I understand your concern and I 

think that, should I be confirmed, you have my pledge that we will 

continue to work very closely and cooperatively and transparently 

as best we can, not in open session, of course, to assure you that 

21 

while there are challenges, both technically and politically, to 

verification of strict limits and the things that we know that we 

have to be assured of, we believe that the confidence-building 

measures that are being conducted in support of these agreements 

are really accruing to the United States, better national security 

and better sense of a relationship with Russia. 

As you know, we need Russia on many different issues and I 

think that we are very pleased with how these negotiations are 

going. Everyone is aware of the December 5 deadline. Everyone is 

concerned that we’ve had to begin this while we have the NPR 

going on. 

But having said that, it will be with very close consultations with 

the Senate. It will be with very close consultations in the Interagency and the exposure that I think that my confirmation can 

bring to the process that we will be able to assure you and other 

Senators that everything we’re doing is within the scope of the 

things that have been promised, that we will have a verifiable treaty and one that will serve the national security interests of the 

United States. 

Senator LUGAR. Well, this is also reassuring. You’ve stressed the 

importance of the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty and the importance of all of us staying in touch and are able to collectively respond to questions that are raised by critics as well as friends of 

the process. 

Let me now mention chemical weapons. As has been mentioned, 

I had the privilege of being in Shchuchye with our Ambassador to 

Russia, John Beyrle. The Ambassador did a wonderful job of highlighting the importance of Russian-American cooperation. I believe 

the event generated strong feelings about the project and the value 

it will have to U.S. and Russian security. The destruction facility 

is an enormous effort that cost more than a billion dollars of American taxpayer funds. It is a massive response to a critically dangerous problem. 

However, even though chemical weapons destruction has been 

important, it has often been overlooked. I have expressed concerns 

about the U.S. commitment to the OPCW, the governing body overseeing implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. I am 

extremely concerned about cuts made by the Department of Commerce’s treaty implementation and the adverse affects these decisions will have on our ability to keep key staff positions within the 

mission at OPCW. 

This is always a problem when working with multiple Cabinet 

agencies but I mention it because we made a record of the history 

of Shchuchye. It involved, as you will recall, 3 years in which the 

House of Representatives refused to appropriate any money at all. 

So in Russia things just stopped because we were having a dispute here in the Congress. Fortunately we were able to get the 

project going again but then Congress imposed so many restrictions 

and stipulations that the administration was unable to agree with 

all of them and so again nothing happened. 

I suspect that most observers of arms control, when they see nuclear weapons, 13,300 warheads that were once aimed at the 

United States, as the major problem, but the chemical weapons as 

22 

represented in Shchuchye are very troubling because they are 

small, 85mm and some are larger, of course—— 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Portable. 

Senator LUGAR [continuing]. That is correct. The portability of 

the weapons made them a potentially greater threat in the hands 

of terrorists. The terrorist threat was one of the reasons the Russians have cooperated on the project because they face serious domestic terrorist threats. It would otherwise be counterintuitive for 

the United States military and our contractors, to go to Russia and 

destroy 2 million weapons with the Russians cheering. 

But the dilemma still is that there are probably 1,800,000 still 

to eliminate in the next 4 or 5 years. I pray that by drilling two 

holes in the bottom of each one of them, extracting the agent, performing what they call bituminization, that is solidifying, and then 

storing it in secure facilities that we can eliminate this threat. But 

this will require a systematic approach with great patience and 

leadership to keep the project moving in the right direction. 

Ambassador Pferter, the Secretary General of the Organization 

for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, also was in attendance at 

the opening of Shchuchye. His participation was very important because the Russian press pressed the Russian leaders on if they will 

meet the Chemical Weapons Convention deadline of 2012? 

Well, amazingly, the Russians replied that they would and they 

gave percentages year by year as to how they approached 2012 

and, bongo, they’re across the finish line. Then the reporters asked 

if the United States would also meet the deadline. Well, fortunately, the Ambassador mentioned that there are two locations in 

the United States that are probably not going to make it across the 

finish line and this comes about because destroying chemical weapons is very difficult. Disputes have occurred in those sites as to 

how it was to be done. Likewise some moneys have not been available on occasion. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Right. 

Senator LUGAR. I don’t believe the Russians will finish by 2012 

and probably not by 2017, for that matter, but we may not either. 

Now, I mention this because we’ve talked a lot about credibility 

in the international community and that was the purpose of these 

questions. 

But I ask you to review the chemical weapons predicament, both 

from the Russian side as well as our side. Likewise, I urge you to 

study the Russian Government’s calims about who actually paid for 

the construction of the facility at Shchuchye. I think the Russian 

claims are inaccurate, but once again this is going to require some 

thoughtfulness on our part and it’s important we establish for the 

record and for the benefit of the international community what we 

have done because it’s important to ensure that the record is accurate. 

So this is less of a question and simply a comment because I 

think you generally agree with the line of thinking—— 

Ms. TAUSCHER. I do. 

Senator LUGAR [continuing]. That I’ve expressed. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. I do, Senator. You know, we have a deadline of 

April 29, 2012. We have had some funding and construction probVerDate Nov 24 2008 10:59 Mar 31, 2011 Jkt 062931 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 S:\HEARING FILES\111TH CONGRESS\NOMINATION HEARINGS THAT WE WILL PRINT\
23 

lems at the two sites in Pueblo, CO, and Bluegrass, KY. We hope 

to be on track to be about 90 percent of the way by 2012. 

I agree with you on the funding issue. I was in the House and 

supported the funding for Shchuch, but I think the predictability 

in funding on a number of these things is the place where we need 

to show American leadership and certainly I believe that signing 

treaties is the ultimate commitment of the nation state and it is 

important to live up to the obligations of those treaties that we do 

sign and certainly we only do that when we have the advice and 

consent of the U.S. Senate. 

So there’s a lot on the line when the United States steps up to 

the line and says we’re going to do something and part of it is to 

not only get it signed and to agree but also then to do the funding 

and then to do the construction and to finally do the job that is 

meant to be done. 

So you have my promise, Senator, that we will do a thorough review of the obligations that we have, where are we falling short, 

how are we going to get a predictable sense of funding for those 

things, and then I think we’re going to have to come back and ask 

you to help us because we’re going to need the heavy lift of both 

the House and the Senate, both authorizers and appropriators, to 

make sure that we are on target to keep our promises where we 

have put the American people’s name on the line in signing these 

treaties. 

Senator LUGAR. I appreciate that information very much. One 

reason I’m enthusiastic about your nomination is that you have 

served in the House of Representatives. You know the nitty gritty 

of how this proceeds. It’s one thing to sign the big treaties and to 

set dates and to have a lot of hurrahs, but it’s another to work year 

in and year out through different chairmen, through different administrations to accomplish the treaty’s goals. I am hopeful that 

your experience will prove useful in maintaining focus on the tasks 

at hand and that you can illustrate the challenges from your own 

experience in trying to counsel others. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes, Senator. 

Senator LUGAR. Thank you very much. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you, Senator. Thank you. 

Senator KAUFMAN [presiding]. Senator Cardin. 

Senator CARDIN. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

First, let me concur with my colleague from Maryland, Congressman Hoyer, and I’m so pleased that Congresswoman Tauscher has 

agreed to take on this new responsibility. 

I’ve had the honor of working with you in the House of Representatives and the President could not have selected a better 

choice. We’re very proud of your continued public service, and I just 

really want to thank your family because this is a family commitment—— 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you. 

Senator CARDIN [continuing]. And it’s a lot of sacrifice and we 

just appreciate your willingness to go forward. 

I also want to concur in your observations of Senator Lugar. 

We’re very proud of being able to serve with Senator Lugar on this 

committee and in the U.S. Senate. 

24 

He told us about his experiences in Russia. It was not easy to 

get there. This was a great personal sacrifice, but it was important 

for the United States to have a person of Senator Lugar’s reputation present at that opportunity to emphasize the importance of the 

progress being made. We’re very proud of the role, Senator Lugar, 

that you have played here, and we look forward to the continued 

progress in making the world safer. 

I think you’re going to have a great partner in Congresswoman 

Tauscher on this. I just really wanted to emphasize that. 

Ellen, let me just ask you one or two questions. One is that I 

agree with you that the new START Treaty is going to be very important. We have a deadline of December when it expires. There’s 

great interest in the United States and in Russia to complete a new 

START Treaty, and I certainly support that. 

But let me just point out the obvious. When we look at the nuclear weapons threat internationally, including Iran, North Korea, 

and other problem areas of the world, we have not gotten the type 

of cooperation from Russia that we would like to have seen in developing the international strategy to contain Iran particularly. I 

just really want to put that on the table as we are talking with the 

Russians and making progress toward a new START Treaty, something again which is in the United States interests and for which 

we have a very clear deadline. It seems to me it may give us opportunities to improve our strategies in dealing with other problems 

around the world where the United States and Russia have a mutual interest, and I would just encourage you to use every opportunity you can to advance United States policy and make this 

world a little safer. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Senator, I couldn’t agree more, and, you know, I 

think back to our time as Members of the House with great fondness and I think the great State of Maryland is well served by having you here. 

I will tell you that I have, as I said to Senator Lugar earlier, I 

consider myself a fellow traveler, but I have never been anywhere 

in the world, either on nonproliferation issues or talking about nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, when I don’t walk in a room 

and someone doesn’t ask me to give their regards to Senator Lugar. 

So I agree with you that he is the exemplar for public service and 

for historic opportunity for our relationship with Russia. 

Senator Lugar quickly identified at the fall of the Soviet Union 

the opportunity for us to have a take down of the Soviet Union in 

the most responsible way and that investing American time, energy, and money was the best way to protect ourselves and it was 

not easy, was it, Senator Lugar, to make those initial negotiations 

nor was it easy, frankly, after the cold war for average Americans 

and even politicians to believe that we should so quickly come to 

the aid of a former enemy, but thank goodness and thank God Senator Lugar persevered and we have the Cooperative Threat Reduction Programs and a number of other Nunn-Lugar programs that 

have worked. 

I agree with you, Senator Cardin, that any opportunity that we 

have to engage with someone that has the kind of influence that 

Russia has, and certainly China, a number of other countries that 

have very significant influence in a multipolar world, we need to 

25 

take it and that is what President Obama has espoused and said 

he wants to do and that is certainly what Secretary Clinton has 

done with her flair and I think significant success. 

So you’re absolutely right. It is important for us to engage on a 

multidiscipline, multilevels with the Russians and I intend, should 

I be confirmed, to be able to do that. 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you. I do want to underscore the point 

that Senator Lugar made. It’s one thing to enter into agreements, 

it’s another thing to put up the resources to implement those agreements, and as time moves on the interest sometimes is not as great 

as when you started. 

So sometimes you lose sight of how much it costs to safely eliminate the threat. That came home in your visit to Russia, and I 

think it’s a point that we need to continuously remind our colleagues, that this is an ongoing commitment. It’s not going to be 

dealt with in 1 year, the destruction of chemical weapons particularly, but also other weapons and materials that we are seeking to 

have safely disposed of. 

So it will require someone with experience with how Congress 

operates. Senator Lugar, you’re right about that, and the attention 

span of Congress is not as long as sometimes as we would like to 

see it. So it will challenge Congresswoman Tauscher’s talents, but 

I know she’s up for it. 

One more point, if I might, just to put on your agenda to take 

a look at. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes. 

Senator CARDIN. And that deals with the Foreign Relations Act 

and satellite technology. 

I mention that because there are restrictions under the Foreign 

Relations Authorization Act as to transfer or launch into outer 

space from China. The manner in which satellite technology is now 

being implemented has changed since authorizations and restrictions were first placed in law, and I would just ask that you review 

these programs to make sure that we’re not disadvantaging American companies, in a way that is not inconsistent with our national 

security interests which obviously comes first. I would just ask that 

you put that on your agenda for review and see whether we 

shouldn’t be looking at some modifications in those laws. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. I very much appreciate that, Senator Cardin. We 

are going to review our expert control policies. 

We have a vibrant and robust technology and innovation business in the United States that is second to none and it is vitally 

important, first and foremost, that we protect those items. Some of 

them are dual use items that are absolutely necessary for our national security and those are the things that we have to protect the 

heck out of and make sure that there is an unambiguous support 

for the protection of those items. 

At the same time, I believe that we have to understand that the 

life cycle of technology these days can be as short as 18 months and 

can be as short as 2 years. You could actually have an item that 

is, you know, Release 1.0 and right following it in a few months 

is Release 2.0 and this item might have to be protected and that 

we absolutely have to protect but we have to understand what it 

is we have to protect. 

26 

We cannot protect 25,000 items to the extent that we need to 

protect them, but we do have to absolutely, unambiguously protect 

the things that we must protect. So I think it is important for us 

to review and take a look at, certainly with full transparency with 

this committee and with the Congress, what exactly it is that we 

are meant to protect, what are the mechanisms we’re going to use 

and the assurances we’re going to have that we can protect those 

things, and what is the review process once something is no longer 

a necessity to protect to get it off the list so that we can put the 

thing on that needs to be protected. 

I think in the beginning we realized that we had to protect X 

number of things and then it became X plus and then X plus and 

then XX plus and you cannot protect everything for its life cycle. 

You can only protect it while it is important for national security. 

So it is a complicated set of circumstances. It is important to 

have the authority, but it’s also important to have the confidence 

and trust of the Congress that we have a regime to do that here 

in the United States where we can protect absolutely and unambiguously the things that need to be protected and that we can move 

them off the list and bring on the things that need to be protected. 

So we’re going to need your help on that. 

Senator CARDIN. Well, I agree with that analysis. I think that’s 

the right analysis and, of course, you currently represent a state 

that has produced some of the best companies for technology 

growth that has helped our national—— 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes, Senator. 

Senator CARDIN [continuing]. Security, and so do I represent a 

State—— 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes, you do. 

Senator CARDIN [continuing]. That falls into that category, and 

we’ve had some friendly competition over the years. 

But the important point is that you’re exactly right. A lot of this 

technology growth is international in some respects and if companies are prohibited from being engaged internationally, their viability is affected and—— 

Ms. TAUSCHER. That’s right. 

Senator CARDIN [continuing]. Their ability to create new technologies to make us safe is compromised if those companies relocate in other countries that don’t have the same restrictions because they have modernized their national security assessment. 

So I think you’re right on target on this and I look forward to 

working with you so that we can protect—— 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you. 

Senator CARDIN [continuing]. Our national security but also be 

able to keep technology here in the United States. That’s important 

for our national security. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes, sir, and create jobs. I mean, the balance will 

always favor national security, but we also need to create good-paying American jobs and have America be at the forefront of technology and it’s that sweet spot that we have to find to make sure 

that we are absolutely protecting the national security items but at 

the same time we’re cognizant that there’s a world market for 

things that can be taken off the list and that we have to then protect the new things that need to be protected. 

27 

Senator CARDIN. I agree. Thank you very much. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator CARDIN. I appreciate again you being willing to take on 

this new responsibility. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you, Senator Cardin. 

Senator KAUFMAN. I want to thank in joining my colleagues in 

just saying how much I appreciate what you’re doing in taking this 

on and the ability of your family to go along with this and make 

the sacrifices that are going to be required is really important—— 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator KAUFMAN [continuing]. And I must say I agree with the 

Leader. If we could clone you somehow and keep you in the House 

and also have you do this job, it would be a great step forward for 

the country. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator KAUFMAN. I’m daunted by the breadth of your responsibilities in this new position and I think that just sitting here listening to the arms control and nonproliferation section of your job 

is like a Tour De Force in what we have to do and how complex 

the problems and how interrelated they are and I think it’s clear 

you have the support of really one of the key people in the Congress, in the country, in Senator Lugar who has turned this into 

an incredible journey that will be looked back on in terms of how 

a Member of Congress affected what was incredibly important to 

us. 

As Senator Cardin says, sometimes in the Congress we have kind 

of a short attention span. I think one of the great things about 

what Senator Lugar has done is he gets up every day and worries 

about this. He never, never moves off course. He’s always thinking 

about how to do this and our kids and our grandchildren are going 

to thank God that he did all of this because where would we be 

without the things that he did and what Senator Nunn did earlier 

is just terrifying to think about it and where we have to get to. 

I’m daunted by doing this, but I think there’s an area that you 

have that we haven’t talked about and that is you head up the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes, sir. 

Senator KAUFMAN. And I think with the new kind of adoption of 

counterinsurgency, this particular Bureau is incredibly important—— 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes. 

Senator KAUFMAN [continuing]. As we move forward, and I think 

that really having the Under Secretary on the beat, in addition to 

the other things you’re carrying, is really, really important. So I’d 

like to spend just a few minutes talking about some questions 

about that involvement—— 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes, Senator. 

Senator KAUFMAN [continuing]. Because how State interrelates 

with DOD—what’s really incredible to me is how much when you 

talk to the leaders in the Department of Defense and the military— 

I had a chance to travel overseas the last couple months to most 

of the trouble spots and it’s amazing how the Department of Defense has just gathered this whole idea of building after we clear 

28 

and hold and then we build and how important the civilians are 

in that. 

So that being said, here we are in Iraq and we’re getting ready 

to leave. I mean, how do you see your job in kind of coordinating 

and carrying the counterinsurgency message forward as we leave 

from Iraq? 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Well, Senator Kaufman, if I could just briefly, before I answer your very interesting question, if I could just say that 

on June 27, I am going to marry a retired marine, Jim Cieslak, and 

my 18-year-old daughter goes away to college on August 13 to play 

Division 1 volleyball at Bucknell University. 

Senator KAUFMAN. Congratulations. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. And my friends behind me in the House, you 

know, it is a very—it is a daunting challenge to pick up this job, 

but I’ll tell you that I feel so supported and I feel very, very blessed 

to not only have my family support but my friends in the House 

who are, you know, either pushing me out the door or are trying 

to hold me back and to know that I can work with Senator Lugar, 

Senator Kerry and all of you, it is and certainly have Secretary 

Clinton and the President. 

I think this is an extraordinary time to do what is going to take 

extraordinary work and you have my pledge as someone coming 

from the legislative branch going to the executive branch, I’m not 

confused as to what it’s going to take to get this done, and it’s 

going to take the political will of the American people and you are 

the political will of the American people and that means that you 

need to be constantly briefed and have as much transparency and 

confidence that you can have and that is my pledge to you. 

On the whole issue of political-military, and Iraq, I think what’s 

really important to understand is that in my 13 years as a member 

of the House Armed Services Committee, my relationships are actually very strong in the Pentagon. I’m very happy to see that Assistant Secretary Nominee Andrew Shapiro was—had his hearing 

the other day. I hope he will be confirmed soon. 

We have a number of very pressing issues in political-military. 

We have very strong POLAD Program where we are putting obviously senior military officers paired with our best Foreign Service 

people. We intend to expand that as best we can. 

As Secretary Gates has said, who has been a fabulous advocate 

for the State Department, there are more people in the Army Band 

than there are diplomats. 

Senator KAUFMAN. Right. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. And I think that what we’re trying to find now 

and perhaps smart diplomacy is an overused term, but I think it’s 

an accurate one, what we know after the last 10 years, after the 

horrific attack on September 11, after Afghanistan and now Iraq 

and as we move out of Iraq and as we reposition to defeat counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, what we know better than ever is that 

we have the finest military force in the world and these are volunteers, unbelievable young men and women from around the country, and they should be the lever of power that we use the least 

and last and that says that the rest of us have to stand up first 

and that means that the civilian core and that means everyone in 

the Federal Government, whether it’s the Department of Labor, 

29 

whether it’s the Department of Agriculture who is trying to figure 

out how to talk the Afghans out of poppy into wheat, it’s just about 

having more civilians on task and doing the mission. 

And I know that Secretary Clinton has talked about this and so 

has President Obama and what’s important, I think, Senator, is 

that over the next few months, as I hope to be confirmed and transition into the job, that I can spend time with all of you and get 

the wisdom of how you think things should be. 

I expect that the Secretary will want me to do what she’s done 

so well which is a listening tour, and what I would like to do is 

really understand what your sense for where we are at this moment and where we need to go in the short, medium and long term 

would be. 

In Iraq, we have a number of challenges obviously. We have a 

significant amount of funding that we still have to provide to stabilize the country. We have foreign military sales. We have foreign 

assistance that we have to do. All of this is done inside the Under 

Secretary of Arms Control and International Security’s purviews. 

So I will work with you and others and the interagency and I will 

expose any ideas and plans that I have with you and for you, but 

what is clear is that we have to leave Iraq better than it was and 

we have to leave it in a way that is stabilized not only for itself 

but for the region and that is what the president has said, that is 

what General Petraeus has said, and I think that we have an opportunity to do that. 

You know, it’s a very short time from now when we will be leaving the cities of Iraq and it’s important that we do it in a way that 

is fundamentally going to protect not only the American people but 

the Iraqi people and the region and so it’s going to take a lot of 

work together for us to be in that place and I look forward to the 

opportunity to do that. 

Senator KAUFMAN. And now Afghanistan. I mean, Afghanistan, 

we have a major—I use the term ‘‘surge,’’ but really a surge of civilian employees in there and again once more to implement the 

counterinsurgency, the military is very much with us. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Right. 

Senator KAUFMAN. Do you have any thoughts about how we get 

this done? 

Ms. TAUSCHER. I do. I do, Senator. I think what’s important, and 

I think that General McCrystal and others, he certainly embodies 

the opportunity, I think that what we have seen is that we are in 

a world where we cannot put down the past because the past has 

not gone away. Things have just gotten more complicated. 

Senator Lugar knows this better than anyone. We have not 

moved away from conventional warfare. We know that it still is 

going to exist. But we have moved into this world, morphed into 

this world of counterinsurgency and that in and of itself is destabilizing because you have to be able to have your forces prepared 

for missions that are at sometimes contradictory and so I think the 

choice of General McCrystal is a good one in Afghanistan and the 

region. 

The region needs to be prepared to deal with a long-term 

counterinsurgency and that we need to be able to provide them 

with not only military training, funding, armaments, and the kind 

30 

of cooperation that we’re going to have to have with each other to 

make sure that we can defeat the counterinsurgency that is in Afghanistan that is causing such trouble to the region and we are 

going to have to do that with cooperation of a number of our allies 

who are helping us. 

It is difficult to make the case right now. As you know, we have 

a very large NATO mission there. I have been frustrated as a 

House Member that a number of our allies have caveats on their 

troops. They didn’t really step up at a time when I thought that 

they should have, but at the same time I think we have to be clear 

as to what the mission is and I think that now that we have articulated what our planned exit strategy is and what the circumstances 

on the ground need to be in order for us to leave, I think that we’re 

going to continue to get cooperation by our NATO allies and others, 

but at the same time this is still a hard slog and it’s going to take 

all of our efforts to make sure that we’re taking the temperature, 

that we’re serious and deliberative about the moves that we make 

going forward. 

I think that President Obama has shown that he is very much 

interested in the advice and consent of General Petraeus and others in making sure that we’re doing this the right way and I think 

the patience of the American people are going to be needed and I 

think that our collaboration is going to be important, too. 

Senator KAUFMAN. You know, it’s kind of like counterinsurgency. 

I feel like, you know, you wait for 6 months to buy a car and then 

you want it the next day. I think we now have a consensus in the 

military about counterinsurgency. 

I just say that we’ve got to spend as much time training the folks 

from the State Department, from the Department of Agriculture, 

from the FBI, that we send over. We have to start doing that now 

and I think you’re in an ideal position to kind of lead this charge 

in terms of recruiting people just to do this. 

I mean, you can’t secund somebody from the Department of Agriculture and put them in Afghanistan. They didn’t sign up for that. 

That’s essentially what we’re doing now. So I’m looking for the 

State Department to look down the road in terms of we’ve got a 

counterinsurgency training ground. We’re going to have to have the 

counterinsurgency—civilian side of counterinsurgency as well as recruited, as well educated, as well trained as the military people 

they’re going to have to serve with over there. 

So, you know, in addition to all your other responsibilities, I feel 

a little guilty kind of laying this on you, but I just think that 

everybody’s—I’ve never seen such unanimity in the military that 

this is what we have to do, but it’s going to take—like you say, 

there’s more people in the band than there is in the State Department. 

If we’re going to do this job right, we’re going to need all kinds 

of civilians over there working with the military and, as you say, 

this counterinsurgency is going to go on for awhile. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Yes, sir. I think you’re absolutely right. I think 

the template for the future is to have—you know, only use our military when absolutely necessary and have a plan to get them out 

as soon and as safely as we can, but also then have the civilian 

surge that is going to be excellent Foreign Service officers, people 

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from the Civilian Affairs side, people from the Department of Agriculture, Military Police, people that can figure out how to stand up 

the civilian side of what is, you know, now a safer place to live, so 

that civilians and children go back to school, civilians can go back 

to work, but it’s going to take a concerted effort, and I think to a 

certain extent a rapid response force of the civilian side, the civilian surge is going to have to be constructed, and I think you’ve got 

some ideas on this, Senator. So I’ll be back to you to see what exactly it is that you think we should be doing. 

Senator KAUFMAN. OK. Thank you very much. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you, sir. 

Senator KAUFMAN. Senator Lugar, do you have any more questions? Senator Cardin? 

Well, then we’ll adjourn this meeting. I’d like to leave the record 

open until noon tomorrow, Wednesday, June 10, if my colleagues 

would like to submit questions for the record. 

Thank you very much. 

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you very much. 

[Whereupon, at 11:24 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. BARBARA BOXER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA

Mr. Chairman, Senator Lugar, I am proud to express my strong support for Representative Ellen Tauscher, President Obama’s nominee to be Under Secretary of 

State for Arms Control and International Security. 

As a fellow Californian and friend, I can say with confidence that President 

Obama couldn’t have picked a more qualified individual for the job. 

Representative Tauscher was elected to the House of Representatives in 1996, 

where she has tirelessly served California’s 10th Congressional District, located in 

the East Bay area of northern California. 

During her second term in Congress, she joined the prestigious House Armed 

Services Committee. As a member of this committee, and ultimately chairman of the 

Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, she championed many of the issues she will be 

responsible for if confirmed. 

In particular, Representative Tauscher has been a constant advocate to stop the 

spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons across the globe. She has sponsored legislation to accelerate the cleanup of fissile and radioactive materials at vulnerable sites worldwide and to make our country less vulnerable to the threat of 

nuclear terrorism. 

And as the Chair of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Subcommittee on Future Security and Defense Capabilities, Representative Tauscher understands how 

important it is to address U.S. security interests from an international perspective. 

If confirmed, Representative Tauscher will advise the President and the Secretary 

of State on all matters pertaining to arms control, nonproliferation, and international security issues. 

Unfortunately, there is no doubt that we will continue to face significant challenges on a number of these fronts. Iran continues to enrich uranium in defiance 

of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and multiple United Nations Security 

Council Resolutions. North Korea recently conducted a second nuclear test and has 

terminated its participation in the six-party talks, heightening tension in Asia and 

around the globe. 

The threat of biological and chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists, 

and the sale of nuclear materials and technologies on the black market also remains 

of grave concern. 

There are also vitally important treaties that need strong U.S. leadership. A new 

treaty is needed to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which is 

set to expire in December 2009. And, the United States has yet to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which President Obama has said that his administration will ‘‘immediately and aggressively’’ pursue. 

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I know that Representative Tauscher will bring to this position the passion and 

dedication that has defined her career. 

In closing, I am very pleased to support Representative Tauscher’s nomination for 

this important post, and I hope that she will get a favorable vote from our committee. 

Æ