NEWS
House Foreign Affairs Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican
CONTACT: Sam Stratman, (202) 226-7875

Lee Cohen, (202) 226-1139

January 9, 2007

For IMMEDIATE Release

Ros-Lehtinen Suggests 9/11 Legislation

May Undermine Proliferation Security Initiative

(WASHINGTON) – With the House of Representatives poised to rewrite the 2004 law implementing recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, a senior GOP lawmaker suggested today that the proposal may undermine a little-known but successful effort to slow the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons technologies.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “provisions in the proposed law drafted by the House Democratic leadership may weaken the important work of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) by making it subject to a UN Security Council mandate.”

The legislation urges "with a particular emphasis" that the President work with the United Nations Security Council to "authorize the PSI under international law" and that PSI be expanded and formalized into a "multilateral regime" to increase coordination, cooperation, and compliance among its participants.

Created in 2002 by the Bush Administration, the Proliferation Security Initiative is a voluntary working group that includes more than 70 participating countries. PSI cooperation already extends beyond NATO partners (as recommended by the proposed legislation). The State Department credits PSI with halting more than two-dozen weapons-related transfers from 2005-2006.

“The initiative has been a success in its existing form, and considered critical in uncovering Libya's weapons program and the A.Q. Khan proliferation network in 2003,” Ros-Lehtinen said.

Ros-Lehtinen added: “granting the United Nations the right to define what is permissible under the Proliferation Security Initiative will result in the imposition of unpredictable limitations, conditions, and interpretations and result in a regulatory straightjacket overseen by an international bureaucracy.

"China and Russia should not be given a veto over what the PSI can
and cannot do," Ros-Lehtinen said, adding "They have used the Security Council veto to hobble U.S. efforts to enlist international assistance against Iran, probably the world's greatest proliferation challenge.”

Ros-Lehtinen continued: "This section of the proposed legislation may have unintended consequences that could harm our counter-proliferation capabilities through PSI.”

“If the new Majority is truly concerned about our nation’s security, it should afford Committees the time to carefully evaluate these proposals. By contrast, the Republican 9/11 measure enacted into law was a carefully calibrated bipartisan measure,” Ros-Lehtinen concluded.

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