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Nuclear testing

A senior Bush administration official tells us there are concerns that Russia will break out of its ban on testing nuclear weapons in the next two years.

If that happens, pressure will mount on the United States to conduct its own underground nuclear tests, the official said.

The United States last tested a nuclear weapon in 1992. Since that time, it has relied on a program of nonnuclear testing known as the Stockpile Stewardship Program.

Linton Brooks, head of the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration, which is in charge of overseeing U.S. nuclear weapons, said in a speech on Feb. 19 that the United States would conduct future tests at the Nevada Test Site, the desert location where more than 1,000 underground tests have been conducted.

Mr. Brooks said in a speech dedicating the opening of the Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas that the Nevada Test Site is being used for "new missions relating to the war on terrorism," presumably research on dealing with a radiological bomb.

As for future testing, Mr. Brooks said, "If nuclear testing is ever required to deal with unexpected problems in important elements of the stockpile, Nevada once again will be ready."

Pantano update

In the press reporting on case of Marine 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, one oft-repeated version has been that the car he and his men stopped on April 15 did not carry weapons. That's not totally true.