Sens. Want To Probe Hagel Nuclear Posture

WASHINGTON — When Chuck Hagel appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee today for a hearing on his nomination as U.S. defense secretary, all five members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation will have one common question on their minds: What will Hagel do to protect Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories?

Hagel, a Nebraska Republican who served two terms in the U.S. Senate before deciding not to seek re-election in 2008, is expected to field tough questions at his confirmation hearing today on issues ranging from his views on Israel to gay rights to overall Pentagon spending.

But his affiliation with Global Zero, a group supporting elimination of nuclear weapons, raises particular questions about his view of New Mexico’s weapons labs. Some news reports have said he has espoused cuts in America’s nuclear arsenal even without corresponding reductions by Russia. Hagel disputes those reports.

“I want to know how he feels about the administration’s stated commitment for modernization of our complex,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich, who has not decided whether he will support Hagel’s nomination.

Like Heinrich, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said he has not decided whether he will vote for Hagel, saying he wants to hear his Senate testimony first. New Mexico’s House delegation, which does not vote on the confirmation, was split on Hagel’s nomination.

Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., said he opposes it, while Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., said she supports Hagel. Rep. Ben Ray Luján D-N.M., declined to take a position on Hagel’s nomination.

On Tuesday, the Journal obtained written testimony from Hagel to the Armed Services Committee in advance of his confirmation hearing. In it, Hagel said he would work to protect the nation’s nuclear capability.

“I support the president’s commitment to a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent as long as nuclear weapons exist,” Hagel said. “I believe that providing necessary resources for nuclear modernization of the Triad should be a national priority.”

Hagel also said that maintaining nuclear weapons without testing will remain a priority if he is confirmed.

“I understand that the Stockpile Stewardship Program has ensured that our nuclear weapons stockpile remains safe, secure, and effective without the use of underground nuclear weapons testing,” Hagel said. “At the same time, the challenge we face is that some aspects of today’s nuclear complex are in need of repair or replacement. If confirmed, I will continue to work with the Department of Energy to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of our stockpile, and the modernization of the nuclear weapons complex infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, an Associated Press story published Wednesday raised again the possibility that President Obama would call for a major reduction in the nation’s nuclear stockpile, which consists of 1,737 deployed strategic warheads.

Back in New Mexico, Albuquerque businessman Sherman McCorkle isn’t taking any chances given uncertain sentiment in Washington about the nation’s nuclear defense posture.

McCorkle, a founder of the Kirtland Partnership Committee, told the Journal on Wednesday that he has organized a group of nearly three dozen community leaders from across the country to lobby in Washington for New Mexico’s labs and other defense-related nuclear institutions across the country. McCorkle stressed that the group is not a reaction to Hagel’s nomination, but an effort to protect the labs in an era of potentially severe federal budget cuts. McCorkle said the two labs account for about 25,000 jobs in New Mexico, including its own employees and outside contractors.

“We want to provide education about the importance of the nuclear capabilities America currently has,” McCorkle said Wednesday. “We’re focused on educating and providing meaningful information.”

McCorkle said his group doesn’t have a name yet but will register as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and include members from at least 20 states, including New Mexico, that have contractors or other interests at Sandia and Los Alamos.

“These are states where there is a significant amount of local interest” in protecting the nation’s nuclear weapons capability, McCorkle said.

Hagel’s record

Hagel has argued for doing away with nuclear weapons entirely, but not immediately and not unilaterally. In a letter to Obama in 2009 — shortly after his former Senate colleague became president — Hagel wrote that Global Zero was developing a plan for achieving “the total elimination of all nuclear weapons,” but with a “clear, realistic and pragmatic appreciation” for the difficulty of realizing that goal.

America’s New START Treaty with Russia calls for reducing the current U.S. stockpile of 1,737 deployed warheads to 1,550 by 2018. These numbers refer to actively deployed weapons, on bombers and missiles, ready for use. With additional weapons in storage as reserves and awaiting dismantlement, the total U.S. stockpile numbers about 5,000 nuclear weapons.

Udall said that Hagel’s role in the Global Zero organization is not at odds with Obama’s view of nuclear weapons, but that Hagel, if confirmed, will be charged with carrying out Obama’s policy directives, not Global Zero’s.

“He’s been very supportive of the mission of the labs and the modernization effort,” Udall said. “I don’t see any daylight between Sen. Hagel’s position or the president’s, or previous presidents’. ”

Former Sen. Pete Domenici, a Republican who was a staunch defender of lab budgets in New Mexico, declined to comment Tuesday on Hagel’s nomination. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat who retired in January after 30 years in the Senate, said that if he were still in the Senate, he would support Hagel’s nomination.

“The administration and Sen. Hagel are both committed to maintaining a safe and reliable nuclear deterrent as long as other nations maintain their nuclear weapons,” Bingaman said in an email to the Journal. “In light of that, I don’t believe the labs would be adversely affected by him serving as secretary of defense.”

Hagel critic

Pearce, the lone Republican currently serving in New Mexico’s congressional delegation, disagreed. He called Hagel’s nomination “alarming” and said he would vote against him if he were in the Senate. Hagel and Pearce are both Vietnam veterans.

“New Mexico is the one (state) at greatest risk of losing (military and nuclear) missions,” Pearce told the Journal. “We’ve lost a lot of the seniority we have in the Senate. The Senate is where you protect these kinds of programs for each state, and I think it would bode very badly for New Mexico if he is confirmed.

“I do not think he is the right man for the security of the nation, and I think he would be potentially harmful for New Mexico,” Pearce added. “That would give me two strong reasons to not vote for him.”

All four Democrats in New Mexico’s congressional delegation told the Journal on Thursday that even if America reduced its nuclear arsenal, Los Alamos and Sandia would remain viable.

Heinrich cited energy and intelligence work as two growing missions at Sandia.

“I think the labs will always be our premier research and national security institutions, and I’ve always said they should be about preserving our national security,” Heinrich said. “If nuclear weapons tomorrow were no longer a reality, I think the work of the labs would continue and it would continue to be critical.”

Lujan Grisham said she shares Hagel’s wish for a world without nuclear weapons but that isn’t realistic — at least not anytime soon. She said she would support Hagel’s nomination because he is a “realist” who would not move to irresponsibly dismantle America’s nuclear deterrent, which she called the labs’ top priority.

“That means we have to have nuclear weapons and they need to be modernized and we have to make sure they are operating,” Lujan Grisham said.

Rep. Ben Ray Luján declined to say whether he would support or oppose Hagel’s nomination, saying that is a decision for Udall and Heinrich to make on behalf of the state. He said the labs’ work in nuclear nonproliferation will remain an important national priority even as the U.S. moves to meet its obligation under the New START treaty and beyond.

“The president has been clear that he supports the goal of a nuclear-free world, and I believe the national labs have a role to play,” Lujan said. “Working toward the goal of nonproliferation … LANL will have an important role, and I hope someone is able to ask about his (Hagel’s) commitment to these facilities.”