Opening Statement
Senator Daniel K. Akaka

Hearing on the "Wassenaar Arrangement and the Future of Multilateral Export Controls"

Mr. Chairman and Senator Lieberman I commend you for calling today’s hearing.

The end of the Cold War has not meant an end to our concern over the diversion of technology to the wrong parties for the wrong things.

But it has meant a loosening of export controls.

Unfortunately, the loosening of controls has come at the same time that the information to develop weapons of mass destruction – chemical, biological or nuclear – has become more widely available and the technology to manufacture these weapons more easily obtained.

A building the size of this hearing room -- perhaps smaller -- would be sufficient – I am told – to house a biological weapons plant. This makes it easy for a country to hide its weapons program. I am also told that the technology to develop biological and chemical weapons is widely available, making it easy for a state to develop such weapons.

While the technology has become easier to obtain, the end of the Cold War has also made it harder for the United States to convince other countries to share our concern about states, such as Iran, whom we believe are secretly developing weapons of mass destruction.

When we voice our fears, our allies charge us with trying to hinder their economic growth, preventing competition in order to preserve American dominance of world markets.

It has become sometimes harder to work with our friends and allies to ensure security in the world.

It has been made even more difficult by globalization. Corporations span international boundaries. Investments involve a multitude of businesses and nationalities. This is especially true in high technology areas – aerospace, for example.

How to make progress without providing the seeds for our own destruction is the central challenge of this century.

I welcome the witnesses to today’s hearing. It promises to be a lively debate and I hope not the only time this Committee examines this problem.