Senate Panel Votes to Lift Ban on Small Nuclear Arms
A sharply divided Senate Armed Services Committee voted today (2003/05/10) to repeal a 10-year-old ban on the development of small nuclear weapons, asserting that the United States must begin looking at new ways of deterring terrorist groups and so-called rogue nuclear powers like North Korea.

"We have tried for 50-plus years to make these weapons unthinkable," said Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island. "And now we're talking about giving them a tactical application. It's a dangerous departure."

Proponents, mainly Republicans, argue that low-yield warheads could be used to incinerate chemical or biological weapons installations without scattering deadly agents into the atmosphere.

"Without committing to deployment, research on low-yield nuclear weapons is a prudent step to safeguard America from emerging threats and enemies who go deeper and deeper underground," said Senator John Warner, a Republican from Virginia who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

Arms control advocates and many Democrats contend improvements in laser and satellite guidance systems have made conventional weapons nearly as destructive as small nuclear weapons. They argue that lifting the ban on low-yield nuclear weapons will only undermine America's ability to prevent the spread of such weapons to other countries.

"This just undermines our whole argument," said Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. "Were driving recklessly down a road that we're telling other people not to walk down."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/international/worldspecial2/10NUKE.html