On February 7, 2007, the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation welcomed Dr. Pierre Goldschmidt, former Deputy Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Head of the Department of Safeguards, to speak on the subject of his recent publication, “Priority Steps to Strengthen the Nonproliferation Regime"

Pleas click here for Dr. Goldschmidt’s paper, “Priority Steps to Strengthen the Nonproliferation Regime.”

Statement of Rep. Edward J. Markey as Prepared

Introducing the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation for the 110th Congress And Welcoming Dr. Pierre Goldschmidt, former Deputy Director of the IAEA

February 7, 2007

Thank you all for coming to the first event of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation for the 110th Congress.  

My good friend Chris Shays and I formed the Task Force in 1997, because we felt the Congress could use a forum dedicated to exploring the nonproliferation challenges of the post-Cold War world.  It is difficult to say that we are “celebrating” the 10th birthday of the Task Force, because in these 10 years the real progress that had been made on the issues of nonproliferation and arms control are now facing grave peril.  And today we find ourselves in a world where Weapons of Mass Destruction in general, and nuclear weapons in particular, threaten global security as gravely as they did at the darkest moments of the Cold War.

In the more optimistic days when we established this forum, the world was making significant progress towards reducing the threat of the most dangerous weapons:
-the Cold War had been brought to a mercifully peaceful end;
-Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine had agreed to rid themselves of the thousands of nuclear weapons they had inherited from the Soviet Union;
-the Cooperative Threat Reduction program and related programs were working to lock down and destroy dangerous weapons and materials throughout the former Soviet Union;
-the 1995 NPT Review Conference had agreed to an indefinite extension of the vital nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty;
-the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans chemical weapons and required all global stockpiles to be destroyed, entered into force on April 29, 1997

In the past 10 years, however, we have suffered a string of serious setbacks:
-India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons;
-The Senate narrowly rejected ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty;
-North Korea cheated on its commitments under the 1994 Agreed Framework, announced that it was leaving the NPT, announced that it possessed nuclear weapons, provocatively tested its missiles, and finally tested a nuclear device this past October;
-The nuclear black market run by the father of the Pakistani bomb, A.Q. Khan, spread the seeds of uranium enrichment technology around the world;
-Iran was exposed as in serious breach of its IAEA safeguards agreement, and instead of taking the steps necessary to convince the international community that its intentions were as peaceful as it claimed, Tehran has raced ahead with the development of its uranium enrichment technology; ended its compliance with the IAEA Additional Protocol, and Iran’s parliament has even threatened to leave the NPT;
-And President Bush has negotiated an agreement with India that many believe could blow an enormous hole in the fabric of the non-proliferation regime.

Against the backdrop of these historic challenges, the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation is more relevant today than ever.  

Today, we are honored to host Dr. Pierre Goldschmidt, who is arguably THE world’s leading expert on the application and utilization of safeguards on nuclear materials and facilities.  As we search for solutions to the most pressing nonproliferation challenges, Dr. Goldschmidt can offer us his deep insight and unrivaled experience to help answer questions such as:
-How do we deal with countries that declare their withdrawal from the NPT, like North Korea, or those countries that threaten to withdraw, like Iran?
-How do we deal with countries that do not comply, or comply only partially, with their IAEA safeguards agreements?

Dr. Goldschmidt served from 1999 to 2005 as the Deputy Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Head of the Department of Safeguards.  In that office he developed and directed the single most significant tool of the international community to preventing and detecting the diversion of nuclear materials or facilities towards weapons research and development: full-scope IAEA safeguards.

Previously, Dr. Goldschmidt served for 12 years as the General Manager of SYNATOM, the company responsible for the fuel supply and spent fuel management of seven Belgian nuclear plants.

Dr. Goldschmidt earned a PhD from the University of Brussels, and holds a Masters Degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Goldschmidt, thank you so much for being with us today.