Fearful of congressional Republicans and uneasy about taking on the military, President Clinton has done little to ease the nuclear confrontation. Yet the risk hasn't gone away. As the Soviet empire disintegrated, the Kremlin lost most of its early-warning radars, making those who control the weapons jumpy. Because its missiles are now fixed targets, the military has just 15 minutes in an attack to either use them or lose them. With its conventional forces vastly reduced, Russia now views its nuclear weapons as a first line of defense not weapons of last resort.
Experts find the state of Russia's nuclear and chemical-weapons security alarming.
But two congressional committees just have voted to slash the already tiny programs representing a fraction of a percent of the defense budget that directly address the threat of nuclear and chemical terrorism. Aviation Week and Space Technology agrees. U.S. government officials and strategic analysts say that without improvement in Russia's economic situation, the dangers of nuclear material leaking to a rogue' nation or terrorist group will remain dire, particularly in light of the potential consequences. It only takes a few bad apples and the whole country outside the nuclear complex is infested with Mafia activities. Joseph Cirincione, a defense analyst at the Henry L. Stimson Center, agrees.