WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. John Kerry released the following statement today in response to reports from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that President Bush’s nuclear weapon detection plans are dangerously inadequate:

“Four years ago, in as contentious a campaign as I can remember, even President Bush and I agreed that the single greatest risk to our national security was nuclear terrorism. It remains so today, but new non-partisan reports show the United States has neither the strategic plan nor the coordination to stop terrorists from smuggling a bomb across our borders. The United States went looking for nuclear weapons that weren’t there in Iraq, and largely ignored the very real danger of terrorists getting their hands on a bomb elsewhere in the world. The next President must accelerate efforts to secure all nuclear materials worldwide by 2012, work with our nuclear labs to improve our detection capabilities, strengthen policing, intelligence-sharing, and interdiction efforts, and appoint a White House coordinator for nuclear security programs. The clock is ticking, and the consequences of inaction are something no President should risk.”

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